Chapter 27- Crouching Spring, Hidden Magnet

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Wreckoning!"

The roar from the crowd was just as deafening as it always had been. "From the north end of the field," Rock continued, "He has one heck of a magnetic personality, Magnet Man!" A slender red robot, adorned with a large horseshoe magnet on his forehead, walked out onto the middle of the field. "And from the south end, he's always ready to spring into action, Spring Man!" A tall robot with coiled spings for limbs and a midsection bounced out onto the field, landing in front of Magnet Man.

"What in the hell are you?" Magnet Man asked, staring at Spring Man in disbelief.

A sudden spring-loaded punch from Spring Man floored Magnet Man immediately. "Less talk, more fight!" Spring Man ordered, flexing his many springs.

Magnet Man kicked himself back up onto his feet. "You wanna' play rough, do you?" Magnet Man hissed, flexing his fingers as he glared at Spring Man, "Then come get some!"

With a quick snarl, Magnet Man hunched himself over, and was quickly enveloped inside of a bright, eerie glow. Spring Man suddenly found himself being pulled towards Magnet Man, and had to run in the opposite direction to keep himself from colliding with the magnetic warrior. Even with his legs pumping as fast as they could, Spring Man was still slowly sliding towards Magnet Man, with Magnet Man readying a tightly-clenched fist for him. As Spring Man was just within a swing's reach of Magnet Man, Magnet Man released his magnetic grip and threw a fierce right hook at Spring Man's eyes. With a wild sidewinding of his many springs, Spring Man twisted his body out of the way of Magnet Man's fist, making Magnet Man clumsily stumble forward. Quickly grasping Magnet Man by his sides, Spring Man hoisted Magnet Man up to the sky, and shot his arms high into the air. As soon as Magnet Man reached the height of the top stands of the stadium, Spring Man took a step backwards, and then threw his arms down. Seconds later, Magnet Man was sent smashing head-first into the floor, his head gouging out a large hole in the ground. Rock, Roll and Blues winced as Magnet Man flopped onto his stomach, barely even moving. "It can't be over already," Rock murmured.

Just as Spring Man raised his own arm in victory, Magnet Man kicked himself back up onto his feet. Spring Man turned around just in time for Magnet Man to throw his knuckles into Spring Man's face, knocking the robot backwards. Magnet Man closed one eye, lined up Spring Man with the large device on his forearm, and fired a crecent-shaped magnet straight at Spring Man's chest.

Spring Man had recovered just as he saw the speeding Magnet Missile racing towards him. Crouching low to the ground, Spring Man suddenly shot himself into the sky, letting the Magnet Missile sail underneath his feet. "Missed me!" Spring Man taunted as he reached the peak of his leap.

"Look underneath you, Spring boy!" Magnet Man retorted.

Spring Man looked down, and gasped when he saw the Magnet Missile speeding up from the ground, headed straight for him. Twisting himself quickly in midair, Spring Man let the magnet whoosh by him again, and the Magnet Missile sailed up into the sky until it became a tiny little dot and then disappearing.

Spring Man landed adeptly on his feet again, laughing as he glared at a frustrated Magnet Man. "Is that all you got?" Spring Man jeered.

"Look behind you," Magnet Man snickered.

A sudden jolt on Spring Man's back shocked him upright with a yelp. Spring Man twisted himself around to see another Magnet Missile stuck on his back. As soon as Spring Man looked back at Magnet Man, another Magnet Missile shot into his chest, giving Spring Man another zap through his body. As Magnet Man readied his magnet launcher for another Magnet Missile, Spring Man threw his arm into the arm and exclaimed, "Wild Coil!"

With that, Spring Man's hand shot a small metal coil into the air just as Magnet Man fired his Magnet Missile. The magnet sped towards Spring Man's face, and then took a sharp turn into the sky, and stuck to the airborne spring. The two fell to the ground, landing in between Magnet Man and Spring Man. Magnet Man looked at his latched magnet in disbelief as Spring Man held his palm towards Magnet Man's face. Before Magnet Man knew it, Spring Man had shot another coil from his hand, and Magnet Man was smacked in the face in a hearbeat. Magnet Man reeled backwards, holding his nose with his hands. Spring Man aimed his palm at Magnet Man again, ready to let another Wild Coil fly. Spring Man was surprised when Magnet Man suddenly began to glow again, pulling Spring Man towards him again. Unable to think in time, Spring Man was sent skidding into Magnet Man, who quickly landed another fist into Spring Man's brow. And before Spring Man could bounce backwards from the blow, Magnet Man grasped Spring Man with one hand on his chest and another on his hip, and cruelly chuckled. With another jolt, Spring Man found himself attached to Magnet Man's hands. "You want to know why I always broke my Slinkys?" Magnet Man asked Spring Man.

Unable to writher his way out of Magnet Man's grip, Spring Man was afraid to answer. Without so much as a word later, Magnet Man hoisted Spring Man above his head, and began to hum. "Let's see how far you go before you snap," Magnet Man announced loudly, much to the delight of the roaring crowd.

Suddenly, Magnet Man screeched, and thrust his arms out to his sides. And with a shriek from Spring Man, Magnet Man began to glow a bright blue as Spring Man's halves began to slowly part, each half at Magnet Man's sides, with the coil that connected them being slowly stretched across Magnet Man's chest as he forced Spring Man's body apart. As soon as the spring was stretched as far as it could go, Spring Man began to wimper. "Please, you'll make me snap!" He whined.

"Won't it be fun?" Magnet Man chuckled, hissing as he continued to will Spring Man's body apart. Spring Man howled in agony as his spring body was stretched to its limits, with Magnet Man grunting and snarling away, putting every ounce of his energy into snapping Spring Man in two.

Rock bit his lip. "How much more can Spring Man take?" He murmured with shock.

As Spring Man wailed in pain, Magnet Man began to roar with agony, forcing his body's powers to cleave Spring Man's halves. Thrusting all of his magnetic energy upon his foe's halves, Magnet Man was seconds away from exhaustion, and Spring Man was just about ready to break. And with a short, loud pop, Magnet Man collapsed to his knees, and Spring Man's body shot together again. Magnet Man's torso was smashed as flat as a pancake as a deafening clap echoed all over the stadium.

The crowd winced along with Rock, Roll, and Blues. "Ow, that's got to hurt," Blues squeaked.

"Ew," Roll murmured, watching the dazed Spring Man begin to pick Magnet Man's crushed pieces pieces out of his stretched, disfigured body spring.

"Well, there's our winner," Rock announced to the crowd, "Spring Man!"

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The Asylum's note:

Ow.... talk about a "crushing" defeat....

Next up: School of Hard Frosts!

-The Asylum(Chill Man)

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