ojaEarly the next morning, at exactly 1 hour until the arcade opened, I crept out of my apartment and up into the Hangar. Some of the engineers were already hard at work, fixing up our bots for the day.
The engineers were robots themselves, except, of course, they were smaller. More like our size, but slightly petite.
I climbed up the ladder and into my mech's cockpit.
"Excuse me!" called our Sprocket, Kumakichi's engineer robot "A quarter hasn't been inserted! Abort your deployment!"
"Sorry, Sprocks, but this is different"
"Cease and desist immediately!" he yelled as I powered up the internal power system. I flicked the switch and two pairs of long metal wings unfolded out of my back. I began to lift off, flying all around the Hangar. The hangar door was still locked, so I quickly shot the "Open Door" button on the control terminal and zipped out as they were opening.
I was free. I was no longer confined to Kumakichi's strict confines.
"All right. Engage afterburners! Set course for Game Central Station!"
"Destination confirmed" chirped the navigation system's voice (I call her Mabel) "Autopilot engaged"
Instantly, blue flames burst out of my mech's exhaust pipes and I was off. Mabel maneuvered me into the west monorail tunnel which, if I heard correctly, led to Game Central Station. Sure enough, the tunnel led into a longer tunnel with electrified walls. Mabel didn't fail me though. She carefully moved around without losing speed, and finally, we arrived.
"Destination reached" said Mabel.
Once we had safe footing, I rolled down the cockpit's windshield and looked around. It was amazing. So many video game characters much like me were all walking around, happily chatting and gossiping with each other.
I tuned off the afterburners and sheathed my wings. Safely still inside my mech, I begin to explore. Suddenly, right as I began to venture outside my game's station, an alarm went off, and a little man with a blue lightbulb head stopped me. He was Surge Protector, Game Central Station's head of security.
"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to step out of your vehicle, please"
"Uh...ok?"
I did what I was told. After all, it was my first time I was in GCC.
"Name, please?"
"Ren Harukaze"
"Where you coming from?"
"Hoshikuzu Robot Force"
"Anything to declare?"
"My mech. That's about it."
Surge looked up at my prized fighting robot "Don't shoot any firearms and you're good to go."
"Whew, thanks!"
I stomped around the main terminal. I could tell that everyone was giving me weird looks. After all, I doubt they've ever seen a giant robot before up close. I had no idea where I was going until a video billboard caught my eye. On it was a blue hedgehog that I could instantly identify as Sonic the Hedgehog. I know this because every Friday night at our arena he rents out a private skybox.
"If you leave your game," he was explaining "Stay safe, stay alert, and whatever you do, don't die. Because if you die outside your own game, you don't regenerate. Game over!"
My first but only warning.
Then I saw a booth run by a Black Mage from the game Final Fantasy. He was surrounded by boxes of pamphlets and was holding several up "See the sights! Visit new worlds!" he exclaimed.
I stomped up to his little booth and looked at all of the pamphlets. All of them were tourist guides to different games. "Visit New York City in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Real Estate in House of the Dead 4", "See Dinosaurs come to life in Primeval Hunt". All of them looked interesting.
"Can I help you find anything, tin man?" the Mage asked me.
"Uh, yeah, I'm looking for a game where I could retire in peace."
He scratched his big pointy hat "Well…have you tried this one?"
He handed me a tourist guide to the game "Sugar Rush". I've heard about this one. It was because of Turbo that this game almost completely fell apart. Luckily though, after his defeat, a new leader took the throne. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Which way to Sugar Rush?"
Meanwhile, back in Shorai City, things were looking bad for our team. By now everyone known that I left. My fellow teammates gobbled to each other like a bunch of turkeys, but I don't think Kumakichi was that upset. In fact, I think he actually WANTED me to go.
"Without Ren, there'll be nobody to fight in Round 1!" said Satoru (Epsilon).
"The game will try to execute a non-existing variable and crash!" added Chiyo (Delta, also Kumakichi's girlfriend and the only girl on our team) "Litwak will pull our plug for sure!"
While everyone was talking all at once, Kumakichi rose up in front of the crowd "Everyone settle down!"
He instantly captured their attention "Don't worry. As long as we have the MIRROR Engine, we can easily make a copy of Omega to fight in Round 1. Granted, he may be black and white, but it's better than nothing! Now come on, let's get back to work!"
Everybody seemed convinced enough, all except for Orochi (Zeta). Orochi, aside from me, was the black sheep of the squad. He always kept his distance from the rest of us outside of the coliseum, and never spoke, but I don't think that makes one stupid. Kumakichi was plotting something, and Orochi was the only one who could see it in his eyes.
