Checking out the Competition

XX

Monkey Fist paced excitedly in his library. The Transportulator lay on an oak table in front of him. Amy sat in a padded armchair across the room, knitting some kind of itchy looking quilt or tea cozy. Monkey Fist couldn't be sure. He wasn't really familiar with what kinds of things one would knit.

"I think it's time to take action, Amy."

Amy looked up distractedly from her knitting. "Sorry, sweetie-pie?"

"We've given her a few days, and Kim Possible has not arrived with that insufferable sidekick of hers. They would have been here by now if they knew we stole the Transportulator. That means we're free to move on to the next phase of the plan!"

"Oh, goody!" Amy clapped her hands in excitement, narrowly avoiding impaling her palms with her knitting needles. "Does that mean we get to rescue my Cuddlesaurus?"

"Indeed."

Monkey Fist stopped in front of the ornate table and caressed the Transportulator with his half-hand, half-paw. His forté was usually magical spells and artifacts, but perhaps it was time to try something a little different. Technology was always a mystery to him compared to the arcane magic he normally worked with, but there was something nice about stealing technology from someone else. No math, no soldering and tinkering with wires and circuitry; just a neat, finished product to play with.

Playing with the Transportulator had been exactly what Monkey Fist and Amy were up to over the last few days. While they were waiting to see if Kim Possible was on their trail, they had been testing the device out. That fool Dementor had not bothered to include an instruction manual, but Monkey Fist thought the controls were easy enough.

A simple phone call would transport him to the destination of his choice when someone picked up on the other end. They had also discovered that calling the Transportulator itself could transport them to its location, provided someone was waiting to pick up the connection on the Transportulator's end of the line.

The Transportulator also seemed to transport objects along with the person it was transporting – clothing, weapons – although, much to Monkey Fist's embarrassment, it turned out that one particular button on the control panel could cancel the effect. He shuddered as he remembered how Amy had eyeballed him after he transported across the room without clothes. It was much the same way some of his monkey minions looked at bananas before eating them.

"Oh Mooontykins!"

Monkey Fist felt Amy slide her arms around him from behind.

"Yes, Amy?"

"If we're going to rescue my Cuddlesaurus, this lair is kind of an inconvenient location, don't you think?"

"Hmm," said Monkey Fist. "I hadn't thought of that."

"I suppose we'll have to relocate!"

Monkey Fist nodded cautiously. Amy's logic was sound, although something about her tone unsettled him. "Where do you think is best? A timeshare lair near Middleton, perhaps?"

"Well, it's been nice sleeping over at your lair the last few weeks," said Amy – Monkey Fist seemed to remember that she had stayed a few weeks longer than he was expecting, but he did not feel like correcting her - "but maybe our relationship is getting serious enough to take it to the next level."

"And what might that 'next level' be, pray tell?"

"Moving in with me, silly!"

Monkey Fist wriggled free from her embrace and laughed nervously, his back pressed against the table. "Oh, that's an excellent idea Amy, but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Impose? Sweetie, it would be a dream come true!"

A nightmare come true, thought Monkey Fist. He scrambled for another excuse. "I think we need someplace more professional from which to launch our plans, Amy."

The library tinkled with Amy's laughter. "Monty, I've got a lair underneath my house. It should be just fine for whatever we want to do. As a matter of fact, I recently made some expansions to it!"

"A lair? You don't say."

A free lair, with all its evil amenities. Monkey Fist had to consider the option, even if moving in with Amy seemed to be a path fraught with danger. Danger, and cuddles. Still, one had to make sacrifices for the cause of world domination and such things. It wasn't as if moving in with Amy was permanent – Monkey Fist could always leave the relationship whenever he wanted. Perhaps it was worth the risk.

"Very well, Amy. Just for the purpose of our plans, though. Let me pack some of my things, and we'll be off."

"Eeeee!"

XX

Brick tentatively moved his knight into the center of the board as Justine sat next to him and watched the game. School had just ended, and today Justine had a little time to attend chess club before she went home to start some homework.

"Gotcha."

The knight disappeared into a growing pile of Brick's pieces on the other side of the chess board, next to Tara. The blonde cheerleader grinned as she waited for Brick's next move.

"You might be better than Justine, you know." Brick was ribbing Justine playfully, but she seemed a little bothered by the comment.

Tara giggled. "You're just being nice."

"I dunno," said Kevin Guberman. "He might be right. You're a chess whiz, Tara."

"Oh, stop it."

"It doesn't hurt that you're so beautiful a guy can barely pay attention to the board."

Tara stuck her tongue out and punched Kevin lightly on the shoulder. Brick thought that the chess team captain was being obvious with his flirting, even by Brick's standards, but Tara seemed to enjoy the attention. She glanced back at the board and easily countered another one of Brick's moves. At this rate, he'd be giving up the board to let Kevin or Justine play a round against Tara in no time.

"So what are you guys up to this afternoon?" asked Kevin.

"I have to go home and work on some homework for a little while," said Justine, "but after that, I am taking Brick to the Robot Rumble."

"Oh, I've heard about that. Sounds like fun."

Tara chimed in on the conversation as her pieces began to advance on Brick's king like a pack of wolves sensing a kill. "I'm going to Bueno Nacho with Ron tonight."

"Yes, you mentioned that," said Kevin.

Brick saw one last opportunity to break out of Tara's near-impenetrable wall of pieces, and moved his remaining bishop out to try to attack. The piece was promptly taken by Tara's queen.

"Checkmate!"

Brick sighed. He enjoyed playing chess, but he was beginning to feel a little frustrated. He couldn't remember winning a single game against Tara, Kevin, or Justine so far. He remembered the first game he had played against Justine – she had told him that he was better than she had expected him to be – but perhaps his girlfriend was just being nice to him. He felt like he was the worst player in the club.

"Alright, who's playing next?" asked Tara.

Justine gently pushed Brick aside and sat down in front of the board, moving her pieces back into place. "Let's see if you're really better than me." She sized up her foe as Tara smiled and placed her own pieces back on the board.

"I'm ready when you are!"

XX

Brick walked into the kitchen after dumping his backpack on the floor next to the front door. As he opened the refrigerator and rifled through its contents, looking for a quick snack, he thought about the last chess game between Justine and Tara. The game had been close, and both Kevin and Brick had been at the edge of their seats by the time it ended. Brick hadn't even been able to follow the last few moves, but he still got an impression that the winning move was sheer genius, giving the victory to -

"You have a nice day at school, Brick?"

Brick noticed his father reading a magazine in the living room. "Yeah pop, it was pretty good. I'm gonna go out later, by the way."

"Where to?"

"Justine is taking me to some contest called the Robot Rumble. A buncha people bring robots to this pit and make them fight each other, it sounds sweet."

Brick got some peanut butter and jelly out of the refrigerator and began to make a sandwich. He would have liked to add raisins and bananas, but there didn't seem to be any. One of them needed to go shopping soon.

"Sounds interesting," said Mason as he flipped a page of his magazine. "You haven't been to football practice lately, have you?"

Brick remembered what he had been putting off telling his father. He wasn't sure why exactly he hadn't told his father about quitting the team already. He knew it was the right thing to do, but his father might have a different attitude. Brick didn't want to have his decisions second-guessed. Still, there was no avoiding it now.

"Dad," said Brick as he sat down on the couch next to his father, "I have something to tell you."

"What's that?"

"I quit the football team yesterday."

Brick took a bite out of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mason was silent for a moment, not even looking up from his reading, but finally he looked up from the magazine and watched his son with a furrowed brow.

"Why?"

"It's kind of hard to explain. I guess lately I've been thinking about what I want. Stuff has been making me think about what I should be doing, you know? Like when I went on that mission with Kim to fight bad guys. And going out with Justine, it's just -"

"Did Justine tell you to quit the team?"

"What? No, she didn't tell me to do it. I just decided to do it, I guess."

His father put down the magazine. "Don't you like playing football?"

"Sure, but you have to stop playing around sometime, right?"

Mason looked at his son eating his sandwich and remembered yesterday night's dinner. He thought about the impression he had gotten of his son's girlfriend. The way she ate, the things she talked about. "I hope that Justine isn't trying to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, Brick. It's not her place to be telling you things like that."

"She's not, dad!"

"I'm just saying, I've seen people like her before. I don't want to see her putting you down. You're gonna feel pretty silly if you change things and she up and leaves you because-"

"Mom left a long time ago, dad."

The living room fell silent.

"You have to move on. I quit the football team because I want to do more with my life. Justine has awards, she's been published in journals, and she hasn't even graduated high school yet. What have I done?"

His father looked like he was about to respond, but Brick continued. "Maybe I don't want to be like you."

Brick, having finished his sandwich, got up from the couch. His father was silent, and after a moment he picked up his magazine and went back to reading. The conversation seemed to be over. Brick wondered if he had been too harsh. Either way, he thought as he headed upstairs to his room, his father was wrong. Justine was helping Brick see how much more he could be.

XX

Tires screeched as a silver Porsche jerked to a halt outside of a small house. The Porsche's bumper was inches away from upending a wooden mailbox beside the driveway. Bonnie Rockwaller stepped out of the car and put on a pair of black sunglasses, giving her outfit a last look to make sure it was attractive. Cleavage level... check. Hip exposure... check.

Bonnie's outfit would serve a dual purpose; Larry would be more solidly in her grasp, a malleable tool to do her bidding, and hopefully it would catch Brick's attention later that evening. Of course, with Justine as her competition, Bonnie could probably make Brick's jaw drop with an outfit made of old newspaper.

She rang the doorbell and stood on the porch, waiting for someone to answer. Before long, a rotund woman with glasses opened the door. Bonnie could see the relationship to Larry.

"Hello there!" The woman had been smiling when she had opened the door, but her expression changed when she saw who was waiting on the porch. "You must be the girl that Larry is taking to the Robot Rumble tonight?"

"That's right. Bonnie Rockwaller, nice to meet you. Is that dor – uh, your son, ready?"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "He's upstairs preparing. He should be ready in just a moment." She stepped aside to let Bonnie enter.

"Thanks lady."

"Please, call me June."

Bonnie followed June into the living room, who indicated an empty plush pink chair where Bonnie could sit and wait. June disappeared into another room as Bonnie sat down. She clawed the armrests wildly with her hands for a moment – the chair was so soft that it gave her a brief sensation that she was about to sink into it completely.

She looked around the room. The walls were decorated with a number of framed pictures, most of which seemed to be either cats or babies dressed to look like various household objects and flowers. A large glass display cabinet faced her on the opposite wall. Its shelves were filled with cutesy porcelain figures, all arranged to stare at the chair Bonnie was sitting in. She had an uneasy sensation that the figures were judging her.

"Laaarry! That girl is here to see you!"

Bonnie shrank back into the chair in surprise as a tray suddenly appeared from above her head. June was leaning over the chair and holding it in front of her. "Coffee cakes?"

"Um, no thanks. I ate already."

"Hello everyone," came a voice from behind the chair.

Bonnie got up to find Larry standing at the foot of the second floor stairway. He waved at Bonnie as his mother stared at the two of them with a suspicious expression. Bonnie gaped at the sight in front of her. Larry was dressed in the same horrific travesty against fashion that she had seen at the shop, but it was not his body that she was worried about. It was his head.

"You are so not wearing that outside."

"What? This is part of the Robot Rumble mystique." Larry adjusted the metallic cap. Bonnie thought it looked like a metallic egg; it was bigger than Larry's actual head.

June glared at Bonnie. "My Larry will wear whatever he wants when he goes out. He's a unique boy, young lady; you could learn something from him!"

Bonnie decided it was not the time to argue. She was getting the distinct impression that June did not like her. It was time to escape the house before the woman changed her mind about letting her son out of the house.

"Alright, fine, wear your freak hat. Let's get to this robot fight."

"We're going out now, mom. I don't know when I'll be back, so you can tape all my shows tonight and I will watch them later."

"Larry," said June as she watched Bonnie with a concerned expression. "You don't have to go out if you don't want to. Is this girl making you do her homework?"

"Mother, that only happened three times. You act as if it's some kind of recurring event. We're leaving now!"

"Okay, see you later June!"

Bonnie placed herself between Larry and his mother and began to herd him towards the front door. June made a move towards them, almost as if she was going to grab Larry, but Bonnie hissed reflexively. June drew back in fear as Bonnie slipped out the door and closed it.

"This is going to be so exciting, Bonnie. I think you'll find that the Rumble is a far cry from the pedestrian joys of cheerleading practice that you and Kim seem to -"

"Shut it, Larry. In the car!"

Larry dutifully entered the Porsche as Bonnie pointed at the passenger side. She opened the driver's side door, catching a last glimpse of Larry 's mother peering through the window blinds of their house. Bonnie looked beside her as Larry tried to find a comfortable position, the massive helmet forcing him to sit lower in the seat.

Bonnie wasn't sure what motivated Larry to help her build a robot – okay, build a robot himself while she took the credit – and enter it into the Robot Rumble. Her stunning figure was motivation enough, it was true, but he had seemed fairly eager to ally with her. Maybe he just wanted to tell all his nerdy friends about his hot escort to the contest.

Bonnie grew uneasy. Perhaps Larry thought it was a date. Perhaps this could have unforeseen effects on the food chain. Then again, getting back together with Brick could repair much of that damage. Bonnie began to wonder who would be at the Robot Rumble – hopefully not anyone she knew. Probably just a bunch of dorks, and it wasn't like any of Bonnie's friends got any gossip from them. Then again, Larry was Kim's cousin, and who knows what Larry would tell her. But perhaps Larry could tell Bonnie things about Kim as well. Or perhaps...

"Um, could you please watch the road, Bonnie?"

Bonnie was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of her tires scraping along the curb. She moved the car back into the lane and laughed nervously. This might be trickier than she thought.

XX

"Hey, that was Bonnie with your cousin Larry!"

Kim rolled her eyes as Ron glanced back at a car that had just passed them by.

"Why would Bonnie be hanging out with my cousin, Ron?"

"I dunno." Ron thought about the question, as if reconsidering his comment. "I could have sworn I saw the two of them in that car together. Just calling it like I see it."

He shrugged and went back to holding Tara's hand. Kim was following behind the two of them as they meandered down the sidewalk, wondering when the evening would end. Ron had invited her to hang out at Bueno Nacho earlier, and she had jumped at the opportunity – lately, she hadn't been able to hang out with Ron as much as she was used to.

Upon getting to the fast food place, however, she discovered that hanging out with Ron meant hanging out with Tara. The rest of the evening had been an exercise in finding out if there was any limit to her ability to watch Ron and Tara make moon eyes at each other and speak in baby voices. Now that they had left Bueno Nacho, she was waiting for her opportunity to go home.

"What the..."

"What is it now, Ron?"

Ron scratched his head and looked back at another car that had just passed them by on the road. "I just saw Monkey Fist in a car with a bunch of his monkey minions!"

"Right."

"No, for real KP! He had all these bags on the top of the car, like he was moving somewhere."

"Maybe he's moving to Middleton," offered Tara.

"Yep, Monkey Fist is moving to Middleton," agreed Kim. "If there's one thing Monkey Fist loves, it's suburbia. Ron, I told you that second jumbo shake was a bad idea."

Ron looked downcast. "Well I dunno, I could have sworn I saw monkeys."

"You're so silly," laughed Tara. She looked back at Kim with a grin. "Don't you love it?"

Kim nodded faintly.

XX

"Here are are."

Justine punched in a key combination on a street light, which opened up a trap door in the sidewalk. A metal platform with a hand rail appeared with a whoosh! out of the recesses of the sidewalk tunnel. Justine led her boyfriend onto the platform as it sunk into the ground, the sidewalk doors closing above them.

"Whoa," said Brick. "There's just some random elevator in the middle of the sidewalk? Isn't that, like, some kinda safety hazard?"

"You'd be surprised how many tunnels there are in Middleton," said Justine.

The platform made its way down to the bottom of the shaft and came to a stop. Justine stepped outside, leading Brick along, and got into a vehicle attached to a rail track that led off down another dark shaft.

"What is this place, some kind of abandoned mineshaft?"

"Or a subway. No one's really sure, but it wasn't being used, so a while ago people decided to use it as a way to have the Robot Rumble in a secluded place."

Justine took the controls of the rail car and led it down the dark tunnel towards their destination. Brick hung his head from the side of the car, enjoying the cool subterranean breeze that ruffled his blond hair, until he had to duck back into his seat to avoid hitting a rocky outcropping that zipped by. After a moment, they reached a small ledge, on which a red door was illuminated by an overhanging light.

Justine climbed out of the car and walked up to the door. A metallic sphere hanging over the door looked down and bathed her in a soft blue light emanating from its aperture.

"Member identification," barked a robotic voice.

"Sheela of the Leopard People."

The door slid open. "Identification confirmed."

Justine led her boyfriend inside a larger, vaulted room. At one end of the room a group of people were gathered around a large pit and shouting wildly. Several people turned to greet Justine as she entered the crowd.

"Hello Lindsay." Justine looked balefully at a girl sitting at the edge of the pit, her legs dangling over the side.

"Oh, hello Justine."

"Who's fighting tonight?" Justine peered into the pit, where a pair of sorry looking robots were feebly attempting to score a hit on each other. Judging by their guidance systems, Justine didn't think they would have much luck even running into each other.

"I think it's the Crushinator and the Smackutron 2000. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Brick Flagg." Justine patted Brick's chest and smirked. "This is his first rumble. Usually he's busy playing football and working out, but he's a man of many interests."

"Hey Lindsay, nice to meet you."

Lindsay looked up at Brick and nodded curtly before returning her attention to the battling robots. Justine watched the girl's reaction exultantly. That's right, Lindsay, she thought. Where's your attitude now? Eat your heart out!

"Hey Justine."

Justine looked up to see Ned approaching, along with Vivian and her boyfriend Oliver. At least, her technical boyfriend. Justine still found it a little strange to talk to Oliver after Vivian had revealed that he was a robot. Why Vivian would create a robot that looked like that, Justine could not even begin to guess.

"Hello Ned. How are things at Bueno Nacho?"

"Very Bueno, thank you for asking!" Ned cracked up at his own joke.

"Hey, that's right, I know you," said Brick. "You're that 'works at the Bueno Nacho' guy."

"That is correct."

Vivian looked Brick over. "Who are you? I haven't seen you before."

"Brick Flagg. I'm Justine's boyfriend."

"Oh, nice to meet you. Vivian Francis Porter. This is my boyfriend, Oliver."

Brick shook Oliver's hand, and was surprised to find that his own hand was almost crushed in the attempt.

"Oliver's a robot," Justine whispered in Brick's ear.

"Dude, you're a robot?"

"Yep."

"Don't you get worried that he'll attack you in your sleep and stuff?" he asked Vivian.

Oliver laughed. "Oh no, that could never happen with my behavioral inhibitors. It is impossible for me to harm, or by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being." He held a tray out to Brick and Justine. "Nacos?"

"Why yes, I think I will!" Brick grabbed a Naco and unwrapped it.

"I brought them from work," explained Ned. "It's no party without the snackage, as Ron Stoppable would say."

Justine watched as Vivian gave Brick another glance. This night was working out even better than she had expected. First she put Lindsay in her place, and now Vivian was clearly jealous as well. Justine had always been a little intimidated by Vivian – despite the accolades that Justine had collected over the years, she knew that Vivian was a brilliant scientist, not to mention an unusually gorgeous one. Vivian tended to focus in different specialties than Justine did, but sometimes she did feel a little threatened.

Now, however, Justine had something that Vivian did not. A real boyfriend. And a good looking one, no less. She couldn't begin to imagine why someone who looked like Vivian had a robot boyfriend instead of a normal one. Perhaps she liked his personality. It was more likely, Justine thought, that she just didn't have time to date with her schedule. Either way, Justine was looking very good in comparison.

"Hey there Brick!"

Bonnie Rockwaller and Larry suddenly appeared from the crowd. Justine cursed silently. Telling herself that the night was working out well was definitely a mistake - she had obviously jinxed herself.

"Hey Bonnie. What brings you here?" said Brick.

"Oh, I came along with Kim's cousin Larry. I thought I'd try something new. I guess I've been feeling like I want to change it up a little lately, you know what I mean Brick?"

"For sure! I feel the same way. That's why I'm here too."

Bonnie smiled and gave Justine a nod. "Hi Justine. Look, that fight we had the other day was really nasty. I know you hit me first, but I suppose it was both our faults – what do you say we just try to get along and be friendly from now on, for Brick's sake?"

Justine felt like she was trapped against a wall. There was no way Bonnie could be serious – Bonnie Rockwaller, trying to make amends? It had to be some kind of trap. But Justine didn't have much choice in the matter. If she turned down Bonnie's offer for a truce and made a scene, she would end up looking bad in front of Brick. She forced a smile and shook the cheerleader's well-manicured hand.

"Sure Bonnie. Let's just enjoy the contest."

Bonnie introduced Larry to Brick as they all sat down around the edges of the pit to watch the robots fight – still the same pair that had been fighting when Justine and Brick entered the room. Apparently they had been unable to score any serious blows against each other. Justine did not need to be introduced to Larry; she knew him well already. She was about to sit down beside her boyfriend when Larry managed to squeeze in between them.

"So, how about that Smackutron 2000?" Larry snorted. "The welding job along the plate metal is completely sub-par, I have to say. John really needs to read a manual."

"Sure."

Larry continued talking, but Justine zoned him out. She was focused on watching Bonnie, who had sidled up to Brick and was having a conversation with him over the cheers and shouts of the audience. Somehow her night had taken a nose dive. Justine looked down into the pit as the Crushinator finally scored a hit on Smackutron with its mallet appendage, and found that she had a lot of sympathy for the losing robot.

XX

Brick walked down the sidewalk with his girlfriend. Neither of them were saying much; Brick was thinking about the Robot Rumble. Seeing robots smash each other into a pulp was even better in real life than on television. He had also met some interesting new people. Not the type of people he usually hanged out with.

Talking to Bonnie had been nice – he hadn't gotten the chance to say much to his ex-girlfriend in a while – but he did not get to enjoy the contest with Justine as much as he would have liked. That Larry kid seemed to be talking to her a lot. Brick had gotten a distinct feeling that Justine was parading him a bit at the beginning of the contest, as well. As if he was a piece of meat. Going out with Bonnie had given him an acute sense of when he was being used as a trophy. It bothered Brick a little, but then he couldn't blame Justine; he was a good looking guy.

They arrived at Justine's house. Her living room window shone through the evening gloom; her parents were home. Justine opened the front door and Brick followed her into the living room, where her parents were sitting on the couch. Brick gave them a friendly wave.

"Hey Justine's mom, Justine's dad."

"Hello Brick," they said in unison. Leona Flanner cleared her throat as her daughter tried to slip away with Brick to the garage.

"Home a little late, aren't you?"

"Sorry mother. The contest took longer than we thought. The robots were horrible, they could barely hit each other."

Leona pointed at Brick. "Doesn't he have to go home sometime?"

"No ma'am, my dad doesn't really care."

Brick was half right, although more importantly, he did not feel like coming home yet. His father might talk to him more about football or about Justine, which was not an exciting thought. Worse yet, his father might not say anything. After the argument that afternoon, Brick's father had not said anything to him when he left with Justine for the contest.

"Just as long as you two aren't up all night. Justine, I'm sure you have some kind of work to do."

"Yes, mother."

Brick felt Justine try and fail to grab his arm's considerable girth. She grabbed his wrist instead and pulled him away into the garage with a surprisingly strong grasp. Brick began inspecting Justine's half-assembled robot like a kid in a candy shop as Justine closed the garage door with a sigh.

"Some time to ourselves!"

Brick looked up from the robot. "Yeah. Do your parents bug you?"

"Sometimes. They can be a little overbearing, I guess."

"Hey, by the way, how did they take that second detention you got? The one you got from fighting with Bonnie?"

"Sssh!" Justine held a finger to her lips. "I haven't told them about that."

"Uh oh," said Brick. "Being a bad girl?"

"I'll tell them eventually... I just have to figure out how exactly."

"You think they're gonna be really harsh?"

Justine sighed. "I'm not really sure. You know, I had never gotten a detention before I got to know you, Brick." Brick thought she was blaming him at first, but then her expression broke into a smirk.

Brick returned the smirk. "What can I say baby, I'm just a bad influence."

Justine laughed at the sight of Brick attempting to casually slick back his hair. "I'm sure. Anyway, it's nice to be home from that contest."

"Oh yeah? I thought it was pretty cool, didn't you?"

Justine began to rummage through her equipment on the work table against the garage wall. "Oh, I enjoyed it. I think it was a little crowded tonight though, didn't you?" She unfurled some schematics and glanced at the robot on the garage floor.

"Crowded? Is it normally less popular?"

"Well, there were some new people there. I wasn't expecting to see Bonnie. She was being a little ridiculous with that buddy-buddy act when she was around you."

"I dunno, Justine. I know you guys had that fight, but people can change. Bonnie did mention something about wanting to be friends a while ago. She seemed okay at the contest." Brick thought about the new people he had met at the Robot Rumble. "That Larry guy though, I noticed he was talking to you for the whole night. He's Kim's cousin too, I've heard her complain about that dude a couple times. I don't know about him."

Brick found himself surprised at his own reaction to Larry. Normally Brick got along easily with people, but something about the guy had bothered him. Maybe it was just the fact that he had been talking to Justine the whole night. He did seem like he had been trying to impress her. Bonnie had told Brick that the two of them were just acquaintances, and Larry had taken her along because she had grown an interest in robots after watching an episode of Murderbots. It was a little unexpected, but Brick had no reason to doubt her.

"Larry?" said Justine. "He's fairly harmless. He thinks he's a genius, but he's not. I'm pretty sure he's got some kind of a thing for me, he's always trying to impress me."

Brick felt himself becoming even more annoyed. He knew there was something going on with Larry. Brick had seen people with attitudes like Larry's, as well. People who looked down on him because he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, like they were better than him.

Chill out, Brick.

He made himself take a deep breath and forget about Larry. Brick knew that, as easygoing as he normally was, he could be the jealous type. There was the incident during the school exchange, when he had confronted that Hirotaka guy at Bueno Nacho after seeing him with Bonnie. Brick felt his cheeks flush. He had made a complete fool out of himself; it was an experience he did not like to remember. Larry might be annoying, but he didn't matter. Justine was his girlfriend, not Larry's, and that was that.

"So, what's up?" he asked Justine as she fiddled with some bolts on her robot.

"Just making some changes."

"Mind if I help?"

Justine looked up from the schematics that she had laid out on the floor. "Um, sure."

Brick looked over the half-finished robot. He remembered what he had seen at the contest. The two robots fighting in the pit had been particularly bad ones, according to Justine. Brick knew nothing about robotics, although he could certainly help Justine with manual labor if she needed it, but there was still something about the robots that seemed off.

"I was watching those two robots at the contest, right? And I was thinking, how come they both suck? It's because they were both so stiff and couldn't move around."

"Right."

"It was like the only thing the dudes that made them bothered with was putting big weapons on them. But one of them could have won a lot easier if it was faster, if it could pin the other one down or knock it over, or avoid all its attacks.

"It's like when I was playing football. I'm a big guy, but that doesn't matter if I can't avoid other people. Eventually I get dragged down. The biggest thing is speed, being able to throw the ball when it counts, avoiding the guys on the other team. Maybe the robot should be like that."

Justine seemed to be considering his suggestion as she looked over her own robot.

"Your robot's better than theirs, for sure, but it still looks you're focusing on just the weapons. Maybe you should try to make it faster, more flexible." Justine seemed to bristle at his criticism for a moment, but softened as she continued to listen.

Brick remembered a conversation with Ron Stoppable a few days ago while they were going to a class together. "The other day Ron was telling me about this awesome martial art he knows. White Sinks Pequod, I think it was called. He tried to show me how it works but he hit his head against his locker. It still sounded cool, though! He was talking about how it works because it mimics the way a monkey moves, it's unexpected, and it's really big on relaxation and moving fluidly, like how monkeys move through trees."

"So you're saying I should make the robot more like a monkey?" Justine's question seemed sarcastic, but her tone was serious.

"Maybe. Something like that, yeah."

Justine stared at him for a moment, and then began to scribble notes down furiously on her schematics. She started pulling pieces off her robot and arranging them around the floor, lost in her own world. Brick was happy enough just to watch her in action. Maybe he could help her even more than he had anticipated.

XX

Notes - Hope you enjoyed the long chapter. :-p It might be a record for longest chapter I've written so far. Normally I don't like huge chapters because of the small scrollbar (and eventually you have very different scenes in one chapter that could have been separated into two) but in this case, I didn't think it was long enough to try to cut in half.