Name: Noki

Age: 21, Gender: Female

Power: Unknown

Robo: Burning Beast - Wolfen Mk-2, White

The Wolfen Mk-2 is the robo uniquely used by the R-Loyalist Wolf Squad. It is a Burning Beast model that has been heavily modified from its predecessor, which has not been seen since physical robos became obsolete. Nearly a polar opposite of the original Wolfen robos, the Wolfen Mk-2 stands upright with a very slim shape. Its body type mirrors that of Aerial Beauty models, and similarly trades defense and strength for speed and agility, though it maintains a gender-neutral appearance. It has a kitsune-shaped headpiece, stands on the toes of paw-like feet, and has a tail attached to the lower back that is made of metal fibers so fine they look almost like organic hairs. The tail is the only part of the robo that actually has any semblance of fur. The robo has light armor plating across its entire chassis to allow maximum mobility, and the plates around the joints automatically retract and extend as necessary for optimal flexibility. There are no protruding armor features, leaving everything very smooth and sleek. All of the Wolfen Mk-2 robos used by Wolf Squad are identically white all over, save for the robotic black and grey eyes on the headpiece. Good Burning Beast robotics are very difficult to create, and so the Wolfen Mk-2 robos use cores built from original Wolfen code. Burning Beast robotics can handle a far greater programming load than other robos. As such, each model is customized to be unique.

Biography: Noki has been with the R-Syndicate most of her life after growing up as a streetside pickpocket. As soon as she picked up robo battling, becoming a better commander became her life's drive. Her days are most often spent in training, practicing for battle in both the physical and tactical senses, and she is constantly seeking out tough opponents to test herself. She considers herself a duelist before anything else, and her skill with a robo earned her a place as the leader of the R-Loyalist Wolf Squad, who elect their strongest to lead. Despite her position in a squad-oriented structure, Noki is as independent as they come. She bends the rules, sometimes even breaking them to do things her own way and often by herself, and has a bitter dislike for authority. The Loyalist leaders have been looking for an excuse to revoke her position, but her skill is undeniable, and her individual actions (whether authorized or not) have salvaged group operations on multiple occasions.

Chapter 11: Noki

Fletch and the three robos around him stared, nobody daring to make the first move. The kid that Fletch was guarding stayed close to him, nearly hugging his robo's leg. The white wolf-like robo quietly watched the four from a rooftop above, unnoticed by any of them.

Fletch had his gun pointed at the robo in front of him, his free hand in a low ready position. The other two had spread out so that the three were evenly spaced around him. Fletch looked sideways at one of them with his eyes, barely moving his head.

The robo in front of him blinked, and Fletch took the microsecond opportunity. He fired his weapon and ducked sideways to dodge the instinctive return fire of a fairly narrow-fire beam. As his weapon discharged, he quickly generated a pod on his back that he had obtained earlier in his battle with Tyson. He deployed it as soon as it appeared, by which time the other two robos behind him could react. They fired their own weapons just in time to see a field of tiny bomblets appear in front of them. Their weapons set off the field, which created an outward-expanding explosion around Fletch that threw the two robos onto their backs.

*****Flechette Field (Pod): Deploys a spherical field of tiny floating bomblets into the area above, behind, and beside the user. The bomblets detonate upon contact, and one detonation will trigger the entire field. Bomblet field only floats for a short time before vanishing. Use only when moving forward. Fusion of Wall and Trio pods.*****

Fletch dashed through the opening in the field of explosions that was in front of him and knocked his target's weapon away with a quick strike from his right wrist, turned, then knocked him sideways with a strong elbow blow to the head.

The robo flipped and rolled on the ground once before planting a foot to recover and stand. Fletch dashed towards him and kicked the supporting foot out from under him, then kicked again with his heel to knock away the arm that caught his weight as he fell forward. The robo fell on his front, where Fletch pinned him with a foot and threw a powerful fist down to crush his head into the hard ground. The robo twitched as it was hit, then glowed a bright yellow and started to dissipate.

Fletch turned and pointed his gun to the other two robos, one of whom was getting to his feet. The other was heavier and having a harder time with it. Fletch fired a quick spray of needles from his Streamshot while generating another weapon in his left hand. The robo shielded itself with an arm, taking the needles in the armor plating where they stuck. After taking some of the shots, he pointed his own weapon to return fire, but his weapon was knocked away by one compact blast, and himself knocked back by two more that felt like gut punches.

*****Fletchette (Bomb): Rapidly fires three baseball-sized bombs that create compact explosions on their targets, dealing heavy damage in small areas where they impact and embedding small pieces of shrapnel that can disrupt robotics if armor is penetrated. Fusion of Shotgun (Gun) and Wall (Bomb).*****

Fletch dashed to close the distance between himself and the temporarily dazed robo as he made both of his weapons disappear, reaching it just as it raised its other weapon at Fletch. Fletch pushed the arm aside inwardly, gripping the robo's wrist and narrowly avoiding taking the shot at close range. Instead, the laser-like shot ended up in the pavement, leaving a small crater in the wake of a flash. With the enemy robo's wrist still in his grip, Fletch turned so they were back-to-back and hooked his elbow around the robo's other shoulder, using that as leverage as he routed his strength to his arms and torqued the gripped arm back sharply, breaking the elbow joint.

As the robo's grip on its gun broke, Fletch released the wrist and grabbed the weapon instead, giving the still-hooked shoulder a twist to pull the robo around in front of him, perfect placement to put a point-blank shot into the vulnerable area just above the chestplate. With a short, high-pitched gasp, the robo glowed yellow and vanished.

*****Phaser (Gun): Fires a single straight shot that will not home, but has zero flight time. Recharges slowly, but deals heavy focus damage at any range. Has very high armor penetration, but deals minimal damage to internal robotics. Fusion of Sniper and Flame guns.*****

Fletch quickly turned his weapon to the last remaining robo, expecting it to be on its feet by now, but it wasn't. In fact it was on its front on the pavement, weakly trying to raise one of its weapons. On top of it knelt a pure white robo identical to the ones described earlier. It had a sleek shape, kitsune-shaked head, a metal fiber tail, and held a knife in the back of the downed robo on the ground. She looked up at Fletch with a piercing gaze through her black and grey robo eyes before giving the knife a twist, causing the third robo to twitch and fade away in the same yellow glow as the others. The blade of the knife in her hand was a shiny silver with a bright blue glow lining the sharp edge.

She stood and stared at Fletch. The boy he had been protecting had taken to hiding against the side of a building, covering his ears. Fletch assumed the robo was one of the Loyalists, given that it had taken out one of his opponents for him, so he lowered his weapons and relaxed. The white robo relaxed its posture as well and replaced its blade in the sheath on its lower back.

Words of gratitude were on the tip of Fletch's tongue when the white robo unexpectedly dashed at him at high speed. Fletch was taken by surprise and only had enough time to raise his Phaser weapon halfway before he was hit. In two quick strikes, Fletch's right arm was knocked to the side followed by a quick blow to his stomach. The Phaser gun in his hand was knocked away and slid along the pavement well out of reach. Fletch brought his left fist up for a retaliatory strike, but the white robo withdrew as quickly as she had approached and Fletch hit nothing but air. The white robo zipped right back at him, this time to the side, giving Fletch a forceful shove to throw him off balance combined with a foot sweep to send him on his way to the ground without halting her forward motion. She blurred past him and skidded to a stop, standing still with two feet and one hand on the ground glaring at him. Fletch landed heavily on his back, stunned a moment before gathering himself and rolling to a standing position. He generated his Streamshot weapon again and pointed it, but held his fire, trying more diplomatic approaches first, "We're on the same side, I'm not with them!" The other robo did not move or respond, still glaring at him with her piercing gaze. Fletch tried again, "I'm not your enemy. Who are you?"

After a brief pause, the other robo gave a brief tilt of her head and said in a distinctively female voice, "You can call me Noki," and dashed at him again. Fletch fired his weapon, but she was still too fast for the needles to reach before she could evade. Fletch fired in constant bursts wherever he could see her. She gracefully stepped sideways to avoid one flurry, ducked under another in a spin that followed into a sideways airborne twist to avoid even more needles.

As she got close, Fletch gave up on trying to hit her with his gun and tried to predict her movements and hit her at close range. He brought his hands up, ready to guard, and stepped into her approach with a low sweeping kick. As he expected, she jumped to avoid it and was easily in position for an airborne retaliation, but Fletch was ready this time. He turned his kick into a turn with a big step away from Noki to avoid her own attack, and then brought his other foot up and around kick again while she was still off the ground.

Noki was able to twist in midair to avoid the kick and take hold of Fletch's heel when she landed. She ducked under his leg to twist him off balance, but Fletch felt it and went with it, jumping off his grounded foot, twisting and pulling the gripped foot in while he rotated and kicked his free foot straight out. He successfully caught Noki in the cheek, which broke her grip and knocked her back a ways. Fletch's rotation ended abruptly on contact, which caused him to simply drop onto his side. He recovered quickly, as did Noki who hit the pavement, skidded for a moment, then flipped herself up in mid-slide to land on her feet.

There was another pause as they both held their ground. Fletch could tell that she had more energy left in her robo than he, since his armor was still sporting scorch marks and dents while hers was near completely shiny and undamaged, save for some scrapes and a mark on her cheek. He knew he couldn't last much longer unless he was able to land a heavy hit on her soon.

Fletch maintained focus as he waited patiently. He again tried communication, "I'm not with them. I'm here to help."

Noki nodded and replied calmly, "I know."

Fletch was slightly confused, but kept himself ready in case she charged again, "So... we are fighting why?"

One of Noki's canine ears flickered briefly and she answered, "For the only reason duels are fought: To determine a superior."

Noki struck Fletch as the kind of person to put the satisfaction of her ego over the needs of anyone else. He recalled the weapon in his hand and his pod, causing them to disappear, effectively disarming himself. He held his hands out to the sides and said, "If it gets it over quicker, than go ahead."

Noki's eyes narrowed, "You think I have so much pride as to not finish an unarmed opponent?"

Fletch answered, "It's not that. Fighting between ourselves is keeping us both from engaging the real enemy here. If you'd rather fight me than them, then just finish it now so at least one of us can get back to being useful! We're just wasting time."

Noki narrowed her eyes and dashed at Fletch so fast that he could only see her as a blur. She threw a strong punch forward at a dent in the center of Fletch's armor, a potential weak spot where the plating would not be hard to break and reach the vulnerable vital mechanics underneath.

Fletch had already removed all of his weapons, which gave him the conditions he needed to focus and react instinctively. His vision was tunneled, his hearing blurred, his color vision greyed, and his senses of touch numbed. In a very quick and sudden motion Fletch grabbed her wrist and yanked her past him without breaking the grip. Noki lost her balance in surprise, and just as she was about to regain it and retaliate, he jerked her back towards him, pulled his gripping arm back while turning sideways, then slammed his free elbow into her side just under her shoulder joint. The combined force of his elbow slam and arm pull was enough to rip Noki's robo's arm off, and enough power remained in the strike to send her flying back with the exposed robotics of her shoulder joint sending out sparks. Noki cried out in pain as her robo's arm was detached and she flew through the air.

Noki landed hard on her back and slid several meters before stopping, cradling her shoulder with her remaining arm. Fletch discarded the robotic arm and cleared the distance with a jump, pinned Noki down with one hand and raised his other as if to finish her.

Fletch held back his strike, not wanting to finish her in case she was finally willing to cooperate. But that was all the time Noki needed. She unsheathed her blade that was still on her lower back, holding it inverted in her remaining hand, and sliced it through the forearm of Fletch's arm that was holding her down. The sharp, glowing blue edge cut through Fletch's reinforced forearm armor like it was cotton candy. Fletch reacted by throwing his readied punch down towards Noki's head, but she was able to roll onto her side and out of the way. Fletch's fist cracked into the pavement where her head had been as Noki snaked her legs out from under him and with a twisting scissor kick combined with a roll she rolled over with him and pinned one knee to his throat while holding her blade just under his chin. She was ready to finish him off if he tried anything similar.

They both remained still for several seconds. Fletch expected her to finish him off, while Noki was ready to do so only if he tried to regain the upper hand. When it became clear that he wasn't going to do anything, she said, "Don't let your guard down like that. Against the real enemies, it's an unaffordable blunder."

Fletch breathed a few sharp breaths in and out before responding, "And against you?"

Noki stood up, twirled her dagger once, then replaced it in its sheath before extending her one remaining hand to help Fletch up, "A friendly duel doesn't make us enemies."