Chapter 7: He Can be Taught
Fletch waited in line to register for the tournament for the chip, but in the middle of the wait, a cute girl about his age with short, light-blue haircame up to him and asked, "Excuse me, could you come with me for a few minutes?"
Fletch didn't want to wait any longer than he had to, so he replied, "Ummm… What's this about?"
She smiled and said, "It will be worth your time."
He sighed, figuring there would be plenty of time to register, judging by the size of the lines, so he obliged, "Sure." She thanked him, then led him through the crowd to a portion of the room where two other bounty hunters were sitting. One was a large… ish muscular man with a green vest and black pants, the other a boy also about Fletch's age with a shirt tie-dyed various shades of blue and who appeared to be sleeping.
Upon seeing Fletch with the girl, the muscular man stood up and walked to him. The girl stopped, and the man held out his right hand to Fletch, "I'm Tyson, leader of Spearhand Bounty Hunters." Tyson indicated the girl, "This is Kip," Kip smiled, then pointing to the other boy, Tyson said "and that's Jay." Jay waved, though his eyes remained closed.
Fletch shook Tyson's hand and replied, "I'm Fletch, and I'm-"
Tyson cut him off, "A freelancer, I know. I heard you when you came in."
Fletch waited for a few seconds, then asked, "So what do you want?"
Tyson chuckled, "What do i you /i think?"
Fletch barely needed time to think, "I think you're trying to recruit me."
"Exactly right. This 'Ultimatum' doesn't sound like something that a single commander can take down alone, and our team is too small to do it by ourselves as well. I think we can help each other. If you join us, we'll have a larger team, and you won't be alone. What say you?"
Fletch considered for a moment, then said, "I'll make you a deal. I'll join your team if you teach me how to do this."
Tyson raised an eyebrow, "How to do what?"
"Robo battle, and how to be good at it."
Tyson looked at Kip questionably, and she nodded to him. He looked back at Fletch and said, "All right, deal."
"And if I can't beat my first opponent in this tournament, the deal's off and I'm gone."
"You drive a hard bargain, but Kip's the best teacher I know for this sort of thing. She'll have you in shape for the first battle." Tyson looked back at Jay, who was still dozing. "JAY!" Jay jumped several inches out of his seat as he awoke, startled. "Go with Kip and… uhh…" he snapped his fingers twice, trying to remember Fletch's name, "uhh… Flash-"
"Fletch," Kip corrected him.
"-Fletch! Go with Kip and Fletch and register for the tournament."
Jay groaned, "Do I have to?"
"Do I have to answer that?"
Jay sighed, "Fine," got up, and walked with Kip and Fletch back through the crowd towards the registration desks. The lines were, by then, very short, so the wait wasn't very long. After everyone who wanted to register had done so, the three went back to where Tyson was waiting for them.
Fletch asked Tyson, "So why didn't you register?"
Tyson didn't respond. He just looked down in some dismay. Kip answered for him, "His Robo was severely damaged in a battle a few days ago, and is still under repair." Kip wanted to know about Fletch's battling experience so as to know where to start training him. "So how long have you been battling?"
"A week or two. I got turned down from Darclaw this morning, but they were total jerks to me anyway."
"Oh, Darclaw. They're mean, I know," Jay said. "They turned me down, too, and they weren't too nice about it. They're tough, though, aren't they?"
"Yeah. They'll probably beat out everybody and win the chip," Tyson sighed.
Fletch stood up and said, "I don't want to see them win this. I want to make sure they don't get that chip." His right fist clenched.
Tyson crossed his arms across his chest, "And I suppose you're the one who's going to stop them?"
Fletch looked at him, determination burning in his eyes, "I'm counting on it."
"Then I guess we should start training you right now, before your battle starts." At that moment, the tournament bracket came up on a screen behind the registration desks. Fletch's battle was near the far right, and Kip's was even farther right. Jay's was close to the left. The battles would move from left to right, so Fletch's was near the end of the first round of battles. Tyson looked up at the bracket, then said, "And since both you and Kip have late battles, you have some time to train. Kip, can you get him in shape in twenty minutes?"
Kip smiled and said, "Only if he's a fast learner!"
Fletch smiled, "Don't worry. I am."
Kip smiled back, "OK. We'll use my holoseum." Both she and Fletch assumed their respective fighting stances and dove into Kip's self-generated holoseum to begin Fletch's training.
Tyson said to Jay, "You should head over to your battle, Jay. It's the second one on the board."
Jay sighed again, "I know, I know. I'm going," and headed off through the crowd, which was thinning quickly as commanders were taking seats again to clear up the main floor.
As soon as Jay was out of sight, Tyson noticed something odd about Fletch's fighting stance. His right hand was raised in a fist, but his left arm was down by his side, no muscles tensed in any way. He thought little of it though, and waited patiently for Jay to return. He glanced up at the bracket board, and Jay's battle was taking a while. Even battles that had started afterwards were ending sooner than his. Finally, the battle ended, and the bracket showed the results. Jay had lost.
The crowd had by then diminished completely, except for a few people still standing in various places. Jay made his way across the room back to Tyson looking depressed. He slumped into the sofa and closed his eyes again. He muttered, "It was Ronnie from Darclaw." After that, neither of them spoke until Kip and Fletch came back to reality.
"So are you ready?" Tyson inquired.
Fletch smirked, "More so than I've ever felt in my life."
"Well, your battle's coming up, so you should head that direction."
Fletch looked back at Kip, and they smiled at each other. Fletch turned and walked across the room to his battle, whispering to himself, "I'm ready."
