Chapter 11
Upper cut. Duck and twist. Neck lock. Rib punch. Again. Again. Again. Again.
"We have a winner!" the ring announcer called out.
Hiro fell to his knees in his circle. The fight had completely destroyed his steel bot and he had lost. There was no chance of him winning this fight. He felt Gogo's hand on his back and he let her steer him away from the ring.
"I'm sorry Kai," Hiro apologized to his friend.
Abigail had her hand resting on Kai's shoulder. She gave him a small squeeze. He offered a smile up to Hiro. "I'm sorry your bot was destroyed before you could get a meeting with Jiro," Kai said.
"I'm the one who should be sorry. I destroyed your bot," Hiro replied.
Kai just smiled up at him, "She was close to her end anyways."
"What are we going to do now?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Ooooo! Ooooo! Ooooo! What if we build our own steel bot, make it breathe fire and fly?" Fred asked raising his hand in the air as if Hiro should pick on him to answer the question.
Everyone raised their eyebrows at Fred's response, but it surprised no one.
"Fire and flying aren't allowed in these competitions," Abigail said, squashing his idea.
Fred pouted at Abigail and folded his arms across his chest.
"Building a new bot would take too much time," Hiro said. He brought a fist up to his mouth and chewed on his knuckle. Then he had an idea. It was a crazy idea…but…
"What?" Gogo asked him.
"What about Baymax?" Hiro asked.
"Of course you would suggest Baymax," Gogo said.
"Why not? He can fight! And I know he won't lose," Hiro said.
Gogo nodded in agreement. Hiro looked to the rest of his friends. They were all smiling at him and encouraging him. Even Abigail was smiling at Hiro. He let his eyes linger on Abigail for a moment. He couldn't help but notice that something seemed off about her. Her lips curled up too far and her eyes didn't light up like they used to when he first met her. He let it go for now, but he couldn't get rid of the weird feeling he felt from her.
"I'll go sign us up," Hiro announced. He pulled Gogo with him and they headed to the office building.
They reached the office. The woman at the window had tattoos covering her arms, trailing up her shoulders and onto her neck.
"I'd like to sign up for another fight," Hiro said to her.
"You just lost," she simply said.
"I'll win the next," Hiro replied.
She tilted her head and inhaled sharply. "I'll admit, I've seen some good fights from you kid. How about fighting one of the big boys?"
Hiro nodded.
"Yama. Two weeks from now," was all she said.
Hiro's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected to fight Yama so soon. He wasn't prepared.
"Is there anyone else besides Yama?" Hiro practically pleaded.
The woman held her gaze with him, "Take it or leave it."
He looked to Gogo. She gave him a nod. She believed in him.
"I'll take it."
Baymax didn't take the news well when Hiro told him they would be fighting Yama. But, Baymax trained with Hiro none the less. Hiro had just enough time to finish modifying Baymax's armor for the fight. Apart from his red plates, Hiro added stronger guards to Baymax's suit. Hiro also had to modify his own helmet to communicate with Baymax while he was in the ring. He also improved his old armor to be more flexible and complimentary to Baymax's suit.
His friends also prepared for the fight. They didn't want to take any chances against Yama. Honey Lemon prepared new formulas for her chem balls. Her newest invention was an acidic ball that would eat organic matter upon contact. She made sure this ball was colored black and would only be used in an emergency.
Wasabi was able to manipulate his lasers to extend in shape. His short swords could transform into the preloaded shapes on his arm pad. He just had to select the shape he wanted to use. He made long swords, straight lasers, and a net that connected both of his hands. Anything passing through would be sliced to pieces.
Fred, well Fred remained Fredzilla. His modification was that he could shoot fireballs instead of just a stream of fire from his mouth. His suit was also more closely fitted to his body to give him better mobility.
Gogo was finally satisfied with a metal she created with the least resistance. She wasn't sure exactly the name of it, but it was the fastest she tried so far. She also made more discs that she attached to different parts of her body so she could fling them in a fight.
After two weeks, everyone was finally prepared for the fight. Hiro invited Kai and Abigail to join his team in the pits to watch his fight against Yama.
The arena was the same as the first fight he had seen Yama in with Abigail. He was finally fighting Yama for real. He looked through the crowd. The arena seemed bigger from where he stood in the ring. He barely heard Abigail calling his name. He turned toward her.
"Jiro is here. He's watching the fight from the top box over there," Abigail said, pointing up in the crowd.
Hiro followed her finger point to a spot above the crowd. There was a lit box with a man seated in a chair surrounded by other people who were tending to him. One person lit his cigarette, another poured him a drink.
He heard the audience grow quiet and he turned his attention back to the ring. He said a silent prayer, to no god in particular, that this fight would be fair.
The ring announcer took to the center of the ring.
"Baymax," Hiro said through his helmet.
Baymax stood in a readied position.
"Begin!"
"Let's go Baymax!"
Hiro shouted commands at Baymax and he charged at Yama's bot. Baymax got the first punch in, bringing Yama's bot to his knees. He quickly recovered and attacked Baymax from his side.
"You got this Baymax!" Hiro said into his helmet.
Baymax fought most of the battle on his own. The commands from Hiro were to maneuver Baymax out of danger. Hiro was able to study Yama's bot for a weakness while Baymax took most of the fight. It wasn't until Baymax was pinned down and Yama's bot's back was facing him that he saw a flash of light. There was no mistaking it. The small glass box held his chip.
"Baymax. There's a small glass box on his back. Hit him there. He'll be vulnerable."
Baymax acknowledged his command and pushed Yama's bot off him. He spun around to confuse the bot and was suddenly at his back. Yama's bot turned its head around and grabbed Baymax by his head and squeezed with as much force as it could muster.
"Punch its back Baymax!" Hiro shouted.
Baymax was incapacitated.
"Come on Baymax!"
Baymax tried so hard to move his arms but couldn't. Hiro felt his heart rate go up. He was going to lose this fight. He had to think of something quick.
"Baymax, can you use your thrusters?" Hiro asked.
Baymax suddenly activated his thrusters and slowly lifted himself up, off the ring's floor. Yama's bot held on but lost his grip. He arms slid from Baymax's head.
"Hiro, I cannot see," Baymax said.
"That's ok buddy, just hang in there. When you land, give a hard punch directly in front of you. You'll hit his chip and we'll win," Hiro said.
Baymax landed on the ground and punched in front of him, but he didn't see the sword cutting through his body. The moment his fist connected with Yama's bot, it jolted, bringing its sword arm to slice one last time through Baymax's core. He had severed Baymax's infrastructure before it fell to its back. The crowd went silent as Baymax also fell to the ground.
The ring announcer stepped into the ring. "Ladies and gentlemen-"
A small man ran on stage to consult with the ring announcer. He covered the microphone and had a silent argument with the man. Hiro looked over to Yama who look just as confused as him. He looked back and saw the ring announcer looking up to where Jiro had been sitting. Jiro was now standing in his box and began descending the steps toward the ring.
Hiro watched as Jiro stepped into the ring. He was lean. He didn't look very old, but he looked…intimidating, like he had a lot of experience. His long fingers grasped the microphone from the ceiling.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Jiro began. He had a heavy Asian accent. His black beady eyes stared at Hiro, then at Yama. "We have a tie," he simply said.
Yama was outraged. He threw his visor down and stepped into the ring. Jiro stopped him immediately. He shaped his free hand into a gun and pointed it at Jiro. "Ie, Yama."
Yama stopped his advance and huffed. Hiro didn't understand what he said.
"Hiro," Jiro said turning to him. Hiro stepped into the ring next to Baymax. "You have an impressive bot. This is your fighting companion, Baymax, is he not?" he said touching Baymax's crushed head.
Hiro nodded in reply.
Jiro smiled briefly and dropped his hand.
"I would very much like to see him in battle again," Jiro said before turning and walking off stage.
Hiro froze. He finally had his way in. Jiro noticed him. He was anxious to see who his next opponent would be.