Chapter 4: Fun With Robots

The double doors opened to a pure white chamber, the only details of the room was a grid of lines every single meter, along with a single railway along the top where a woman was standing next to Instructor Wolfe. The woman was clad in a white suit jacket, with cargo pants and hiking boots that didn't seem to match her dapper jacket. Her black hair was in low pigtails down to her shoulders, and clad in thick rimmed glasses. In her hand was a silver briefcase that was covered in strange luminescent orange lines.

Silas stepped through the double doors, his hands in the pockets of his black pants as he curiously looked up at the two people observing him. "Is this the Resilience test?" Silas asked, Instructor Wolfe slowly walked up and placed both of his hands onto the railing, leaning down to look at him. "You've found the right one, I'll let Ms. Perdix explain how this will work." He explained, before gesturing to the younger woman to his side. She hit a button on a remote she was holding, a staircase forming out of light on the side of the railing. She walked down the stairs, before standing a few feet in front of him.

"Thanks to the wonderful people at the SDC," She started, though there was a wince on the last word that SIlas noticed. "I get to test out my new prototype robot as part of the revised endurance test. Trust me, the last one they did kind of sucked." She continued, setting her briefcase on the ground in front of him as she spoke. She then clapped twice, the briefcase whirring as it slowly unfolded into a sight Silas didn't expect. Two hands slammed on the ground as the shoulders, torso and arms formed, the rest becoming the legs as the robot stood up straight.

It was about a foot taller than Silas, its body was made of silvers and white, its body resembling a skeleton. The face was more akin to a motorcycle helmet with an LED display showing a orange simple face with a smile. "This is my prototype combat robot ViBe. Say hello, ViBe." She said, the robot smoothly moving to wave at him almost like it was a person in a robot suit, its synthesized voice speaking in a friendly, if upper class tone. "Hello there." It spoke, Silas gently waving back at him.

"This robot has been programmed with 10 skill levels of hand to hand combat pre baked into its programming, along with a sensor for simulated aura for each skill level, meaning it can perfectly replicate a fight. Each time a certain amount of time passes, the skill of ViBe will increase and you will be granted another star for enduring." She continued, walking up behind the robot and hitting buttons faster than Silas could keep track of.

"Engaging hand to hand mode." Vibe spoke, glowing blue holograms forming around each limb and its torso covered now with a white mixture of rubber and plastic. "This is so you don't break your hands from punching it too hard." She made an aside, as ViBe leaned forward, the interface for its eyes focusing on Silas. "Opponent for sparring found. Target; Prepubescent girl. 5'4, slender build, black hair."It began its analysis.
SIlas' eyes widening a bit. "Why does it think I'm a girl? Did you program it to taunt!?" He complained to Phoebe, Phoebe tried to stifle a small chuckle. "It's a prototype, kid. I'll calibrate its sensors later. To be fair, you would probably make a pretty girl if you tried hard enough." She gestured, Silas frowning harder than he's ever frowned in his life. "Wow, I hate both of you already." He half joked, before Phoebe began to walk back up the stairs to the observation booth.

"Good luck! Don't die!" She cheered, the bridge disappearing as a timer appeared on the wall showing the current time, counting up by the second. "Alright, ViBe… Let's get this over with." He said, gently cracking his neck as he stared down the robot. The robot's interface turning red from the typical orange as it spoke. "Level one, Drunken Bar Patron." It announced, his stance sinking lower and slowly swaying side to side, almost like it wasn't capable of balancing.

"Windmill attack." It spoke in a monotone, wildly flailing both its arms in fists in front of it and charging straight toward Silas. Silas blinked a couple of times, slowly leaning back and planting a boot into the robot's chest before shoving it, knocking it down. "Wow. Accurate drunk physics." He chided, his hands tucked into his pockets. Suddenly, it landed on both it's shoulders and hit a backspring, kicking SIlas in the chest hard enough that he fell back, sliding into the wall behind him. "SON OF A-" He complained, getting back onto both of his feet.

He ducked a blind haymaker out of sheer luck, before landing a quick elbow into the sternum of the robot, making it stumble back again. Throwing another haymaker, Silas caught it, twisting its wrist and pulling it closer, before sliding behind its back and checking to see if the joint's maneuverability matched a typical human. The other arm of ViBe flailed wildly, trying to strike Silas as he torqued the wrist even harder.

"Ooooh, testing its limb limitations. Smart." Phoebe said, somewhat impressed. Silas slapping ViBe on the back of it's head a few times, as it finally spun around to throw a roundhouse kick. Silas ducked, letting its leg fly over the arm he left a grip on forcing his arm between his legs, making it struggle to get balanced again. Silas tugged, making it land in front of him with a frontflip. Silas smugly celebrated, wiping off his bottom lip a few times with a smirk on his face.

ViBe rolled back onto its feet, jumping at Silas with a suckerpunch that he wasn't prepared for, making him stumble backward and have to regain his balance. "That actually hits pretty damn hard." He muttered to himself, ViBe taking the opportunity for an absurd looking leaping attack. "And here comes a big Karate chop!" Its robotic voice feigning excitement. Silas intentionally fell onto his back, making it land just in front of him and missing the strike. Before it could strike again, Silas vanished.

"Where did the target go? Switching to infrared vision." ViBe announced, the display turning a green color as it began to look around. Silas panicked at that announcement, crouching down low so he could walk without his footsteps being heard. 'Not good… My semblance does nothing about my body heat.' He thought to himself, trying to always walk behind ViBe's head so he wouldn't be noticed.

'I need the upper hand.' He decided, standing back up and breaking into a full sprint to close the 15 feet gap he made while invisible. "Target Sigh-" ViBe spoke, before its head collided against Silas' flying knee to the side of its face. "Didn't think I'd leave you alone for too long, huh?" Silas boasted, cracking his knuckles and pretending kicking a robot with his knee didn't hurt like hell. ViBe slid along the ground, before hitting a wall in a heap, before a voice called out for the second time.

"Stage 2." ViBe spoke, before getting back onto it's two feet, now getting into a more proper fighting stance. "Professional Wrestler." ViBe announced, flexing both its arms like a cannon. Silas sighed, looking over at the clock to see about a minute had passed since he started. "It must tick up every minute then." He spoke to himself, before ViBe ran up to him, leaping and wrapping it's legs around his neck. "Hurricanrana!" It shouted, flipping back and sending Silas flying into the air. Silas shouted in terror, before smacking back first into the wall upside down.

"G-gah!" He gasped as the air launched out of his lungs, sending him sliding down head first on the wall and hitting the floor. "Basement Dropkick!" ViBe shouted, not hesitating for a second to charge at the upside down Silas, leaping into the air and launching a kick into his chest that cracked the wall he was against. Silas gasped in pain, it felt like his Aura was doing nothing to block any of this, it even felt like one of his ribs just cracked.

"Kid, focus on your breathing! Aura is based on your emotional state, panic will just make it fizzle out. Stay calm and focus." Instructor Wolfe shouted to the teen in his baritone, commanding voice. 'Damn it, he's right…' Silas admitted to himself as ViBe went back to showboating for a crowd that wasn't there. He softly began to cough, before getting his breathing back and sliding up along the wall so he could focus.

"What calms me down?" SIlas spoke between shallow breaths. Though only spending a moment before he was charged again by the robot he was facing off with. It started with a few elbow swings that Silas barely could dodge. Responding by smacking its chest with a few side kicks before backing off to make some more room. It performed another running leap, and Silas fell onto his back to dodge it, springing back up behind him and leaping with enough rotation to land a roundhouse kick to the back of its head. It shifted to the side, before grabbing him by the leg as hard as a vice would.

Silas gasped, trying to pull his leg until he felt his shin start to detach from his knee. Realizing this was a bad idea, he suddenly began trying to push his leg deeper, hopping on his other one as he used his arms to keep himself balanced. Vibe reached down, grabbing him by the hip and pulling him closer. Leaping into the air and sitting both Silas' legs onto its shoulders. "Sky high powerbomb!" It shouted, leaping nearly 15 feet into the air before slamming Silas onto his back hard enough to cause a sickening thud to fill the room. Silas bounced into the air as ViBe let go of him, landing on the floor limp.

"...Are you sure this isn't over-tuned, Phoebe?" Instructor Wolfe asked the young robotics genius. Phoebe stammered, gently twiddling her thumbs. "Uhhh.. Maybe a little bit." She replied, but was interrupted by the sight of Silas slowly getting back onto his feet. "I'm starting to get the hang of this." Silas said, panting. "They're all big attacks, but they're predictable." He mused, looking up at the clock and seeing 20 seconds remaining before the next stage starts. "You hear that, robot!? I'm starting to get used to fighting you, you'll lose soon enough…" He warned, the robot slowly walking up to him, standing a few feet away from him. Silas widened his legs, getting into a stance where he could see what ViBe's next move.

"Heel turn." It spoke simply. Silas got confused by that, not sure what it meant. "W-wha?" He asked, before the robot kicked him right between his legs, causing him a pain that could only be described as 'existential.' The room echoed with the scream of a defeated man, hit in his most tender spot. His knees hit together, trying to trap the robot's leg between his legs. "B-but I'm not losing this o-opportunity…" He claimed, his voice quivering from pain.

"Did your robot just kick him in the d-" Inspector Wolfe started, but Phoebe cut in. "Definitely did!" Phoebe replied, covering her mouth so she wouldn't be laughing at the first student to test out her combat robot. Silas elbowed ViBe in the knee joint, making it struggle as he lifted the leg onto one of his shoulders, tripping it and slamming it onto the floor. Falling ontop, slamming an elbow into its face as the robot beeped. "Stage 3: Martial Artist." It announced, quickly kicking Silas off of it and hand springing back to it's feet as it got into a low, efficient stance.

Silas managed to flip, landing on a knee and snapping his vision up to his opponent. Glancing at the clock, and after such a long time fighting he was finally into the third minute. "Look, Lady." He said, pointing over to Phoebe, currently leaning over the rail to watch the fight. "I don't know if you made this robot to humble me or not. But I'm no joke… I'm beating stage three and you're gonna watch me do it." He said with a determined scowl on his face. The robot running at him at a much faster speed than the last setting.

It threw fast punches and elbows, though Silas' speed managed to match it, even blocking or parrying a couple. Dipping into a street boxing stance, Silas threw a few quick jabs, though ViBe ended up dodging most of them. 'I'm better up close like this than I thought, I have to thank my Aunt for that later.' He said, somewhat lost in thought as his fighting was going too quick for his mind to come up with a strategy. Ducking a spinning high kick so close it almost glanced his hair and tripping him with a quick spinning roundhouse to knock it off balance. Pivoting off a hand, he switched the direction of the kick to his other leg, doing a flying roundhouse to the still falling robot against the side of it's head, sending it spinning to the floor.

.ViBe twisted on it's landing, getting onto one knee and hitting Silas with a surprise uppercut as he tried to make his own landing, making him stumble back until both his shoulders hit the wall behind him, almost hitting his head hard enough to make him see stars. "He's fast…" Silas stammered out, quickly blocking two fast punches to his stomach, but getting caught with two rapid hooks to both sides of his head. Struggling to focus, Silas' aura started to shimmer and fade, making Phoebe and Instructor Wolfe feel uneased by this, wondering if the young man was going to be going down soon.

Silas, now desperate to not fade out too early, shoved ViBe with both of his arms, making it stumble back as he limped forward, arms hung to both sides as he barely maintained his balance trying to catch his breath. Vibe resumed its offense, Silas leaning and swaying to make most of the attacks miss. Landing barely limp punches at the robot, before falling forward and smashing a headbutt into it hard enough that it cracked the screen on ViBe. Though, the expected result of him getting knocked down just didn't happen. Silas collapsed onto his knees, feeling a shock go up his spine as he collapsed to the ground.

A silence fell in the room, the robot standing back up and looking down at Silas, face first on the floor and not moving, his hair a mess and a small pool of blood slowly growing near his forehead. "Stop the fight." Instructor Wolfe demanded, Phoebe hurriedly pulling out a remote from her pocket and pressing the button to disable combat mode, ViBe's posture changing to match as Silas gazed at the clock with glossed over eyes, which stopped at 2:52.335, 8 seconds short of getting level 3 completed before losing consciousness.