Chapter 35- Survival Gauntlet
It took awhile for Rock to get used to the camera droid knelt next to their table, even though he was thankful that the tournament had finally gotten a Pay-Per-View deal. "Welcome back to the Wrecoking," Rock announded. "I'm sure you all remember our two contenders for this match, Ice Man and Turbo Man!"
The robot in the blue parka broke his glare away from the taller robot as turned to Roll. "Come on Roll, please forgive me?"
"I told you, no." Roll muttered.
"Please?"
"No."
"Can we start now?" Blues asked impatiently.
"Yeahcomeon," Turbo Man demanded.
"Please Roll?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"I'm really sorry."
"No."
"Okay," said Rock, "I'm starting the match now."
"Please Roll?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
Rock raised his arm. "Let the match begin!"
"Please-?"
In the blink of an eye, Turbo Man had shoved a flaming fist through Ice Man's back, fully impaling him. Roll gasped and covered her eyes. "Loser!" Turbo Man jeered.
Ice Man slid off of Turbo Man's arm and flopped to the ground. "Ow," he murmured weakly.
"I don't think Ice Man can continue," Blues muttered.
Rock grabbed a smaller microphone from underneath the table. "Go to commercial! Commercial!"
-
The seventeen robots stood in a circle around Light, who stood next to a table with a small shoebox. "Since you aren't part of the tournament," said Light, "We'll be holding a series of side contests for the matches that are too short."
"Finally," Terra smirked, "a chance to prove my superiority."
"You?" Punk sneered. "I'm the strongest of us all."
Light cut in quickly before Terra and Punk could get into a shouting match. "In this box, I have your names written on small cards," he said. "I'll draw eight names, and those robots will be in the first event."
"What is it?" Mars muttered.
"Patience, Mars," said Light, reaching into the shoebox and pulling out a card. "Venus, could you please step to that wall?" Light asked.
"Okay," Venus shrugged, walking to his left.
Light drew another name. "Mercury, on the opposite side please."
The eight robots were soon chosen, with Venus, Neptune, Uranus, and Gravity Man on one side of the room, while Mercury, Quint, Pluto, and Terra stood on the other side. "What's this all about?" asked Gravity Man.
"It's about today's event," said Light.
"Today?"
"Yes, Ice Man didn't last too long against Turbo Man, I'm afraid. So instead, we're having an eight-man survival contest."
The two bands of Robot Masters glared across the room at each other. "And it's us four against them?" asked Quint.
Light nodded. "Now out to the field boys, we'll explain the rules out there."
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Survivor Sideshow Series!"
-
The crowd cheered as Rock welcomed them back from Rush's intermission of assorted dog tricks. "In the event of any match going less than three minutes, we've got a mini-tournament waiting just for you! Each event will see the elimination of a few of the seventeen Robot Masters not included in the main tournament, and today's challenge is called the Survival Gauntlet. Two teams of four will combat the other one-on-one, one at a time. When one Robot Master is destroyed, another Robot Master from his team will take their place. The winner of the fight must substitute for another member of his team. When four competitors have been destroyed, the team with the remaining Robot Masters on the winning team will be proclaimed the winners, and gain immunity from being selected to compete in the next Sideshow. Robot Masters, are you ready?"
Uranus grunted a "Yeah."
"Ready as we'll ever be," said Pluto.
"Then Survival Gauntlet," Rock announced, "begin!"
Pluto stepped forward into the middle of the field. "Who's the first victim?" he snarled, spreading his metal claws.
The other four Robot Masters murmured amongst each other for a while until Neptune ventured forth to face Pluto. "Let's have it, furball."
Pluto bolted off his feet and made a mad dash for Neptune. With a quick leap, Neptune vaulted over Pluto's head, whipped his arm around, and shot forth a large glob of viscous clear liquid onto Pluto's back. Pluto howled as his bright metallic fur turned from magenta to a rusty brown. Neptune cackled at his handiwork, watching as Pluto feverishly scratched his irritated metal skin. "The best weapons are the most simple ones," Neptune jeered, putting his hands on his hips and laughing some more.
His laughter was cut short when Pluto suddenly shot into the air, taking a wild slash at Neptune's face with his razor-sharp claws, shredding Neptune's face. As Neptune staggered backwards covering his bloody face, Pluto arched his tail over his head, shooting a blast of energy straight into Neptune's chest, bowling him over onto his back. Before Neptune could rise again, Pluto pounced on him like a cat, wound both arms back, and plunged them into Neptune's chest. With a quick twist and jerk, Pluto ripped out half of the machinery in Neptune's body, spewing it all over the arena floor around him.
"Oh God oh God," Roll murmured, covering her eyes and turning away.
"There's Neptune eliminated," Rock announced to the crowd, "So let's get two new Stardroids out there!"
Paramedic druids quickly rushed onto the field to drag Neptune's corpse away as Pluto returned to his ranks. "Ooo! Ooo! Pick me!" Quint urged, "I wanna go next!"
Pluto's team looked at each other briefly. "Sure, knock yourself out, kid," said Terra. "I'll be strong enough to take this whole team out myself, but I'll let you have your fun, I suppose."
Quint cheered and skipped out onto the middle of the field.
Gravity Man stepped forward. "This runt's mine."
The two circled around each other. "What're you going to do, Gravity Man?" Quint taunted. "You don't have a room to change polarities in. You're powerless!"
Gravity Man only snickered. "That's what you think."
Before Quint could respond, Gravity Man suddenly roared. A sudden pulling force began to tug on Quint's body, being inexplicably drawn towards the west side of the arena wall. Quint tried as hard as he could to stop himself from moving, digging his heels into the ground as he kept skidding forward to Gravity Man. "Sakugane!" Quint screamed when he could hold himself no longer, and Quint's trusty jackhammer suddenly materialized before him. Quint quickly hopped on and plunged the drill bit into the ground, but it still did him no good as he kept on skidding towards Gravity Man. And just when Quint was within distance, Gravity Man swung a quick left hook into Quint's cheek, knocking him flat on his back. With one quick sweep of his arm, Gravity Man sent Quint sailing into the arena wall with his Gravity Hold power, and sending Sakugane shortly after. Quint hit the wall with a dizzying thud, moaning and rubbing his sore cheek. He groaned no more when Sakugane was sent like a spear into his back, pinning him firmly to the wall.
"Ouch," Venus snickered.
Terra muttered spitefully under his breath. "If you want something done right," he sneered, taking the field and trailing off.
Gravity Man high-fived Uranus as he headed back to his ranks. "Wanna' take this?" Gravity Man asked.
"One of us is gonna' hafta'," said Uranus, "may as well be me."
"You?" Terra snorted as Uranus stepped onto the middle of the field with him, "What makes you think you can destroy me, you filthy troglodyte? You don't even have any boulders to thow at me- you're even more out of your element than Gravity Man!"
"If I can't destroy you," Uranus snarled, "then I'll sure as hell fuck you up."
"Ooooo," Venus added in.
"I'd like to see you try," Terra sneered.
"Then put up and shut up," Uranus roared, "'cuz here I come!"
With that, Uranus charged like a mad bull at Terra, who easily vaulted over him with a short leap. "Ole!" Terra taunted, making sure to plant his foot in Uranus' back and bounding off of him. Uranus stumbled forward, turned around, and sprung into the air. With a ground-shaking thud, Uranus smashed himself into the spot where Terra once was, only having missed him by a split-second when Terra vanished into thin air. He reappeared seconds later, standing behind Uranus and exclaiming, "Spark Chaser!"
A bolt of energy shot from Terra's hand and into Uranus' back, sprawling Uranus onto the floor. As Uranus tried to stand up again, Terra teleported right in front of his face, planting his palm onto Uranus's forehead and sending a paralyzing jolt of power through Uranus' body. "Look at you, you pathetic underling," Terra jeered, slapping Uranus straight in the face, "You can't even touch me."
Suddenly, Uranus gave and ear-splitting roar, and plunged his fist straight through Terra's chest. The stadium was filled with a shocked hush as Terra spilled to his knees. "You talk to much," Uranus snorted.
"It- it," Terra stammered in disbelief as his power faded, "it lasted longer…. on…. Rock…"
Uranus pulled his arm out of Terra's chest, leaving the Stardoid leader to flop on his face. "Terra's dead?" Blues murmured. "Did we just see Uranus kill Terra?"
Rock sighed, and rested his cheek in his palm on the table. "Terra was quite self-absorbed," he muttered.
"Nice one, Uranus!" Venus cheered as Uranus trudged back to his teammates.
Mercury looked on in disgust as the paramedic druids carted Terra's body off the field. "My turn, I guess," he muttered, stepping onto the middle of the field.
Venus met him in the center. "It's just you and me now, punk," Venus sneered.
Mercury clenched his fists. "Let's just get this over with."
Venus wasted no time charging at Mercury. Mercury simply melted into a liquid puddle and scooted underneath Venus' feet, reforming behind him and blasting him with his Grab Buster. Venus yelped and stumbled forward as Mercury liquidized again and launched himself into the air, solidifying just in time to send himself hurdling into Venus' back, bowling both over onto the floor. Mercury mounted Venus and was about to blast him point-blank with his Grab Buster when Venus suddenly bucked his legs up, sending Mercury flying forward. Mercury adeptly turned to liquid before he hit he ground, but did not reform quickly enough to avoid Venus smashing into him, knocking him forward. Venus aimed his arm cannon at the stunned Mercury and fired a round of Bubble Bombs, all three of them pelting Mercury's back with an explosive pop. Wasting no time Venus leapt into the air, looking to smash his body upon Mercury's. Mercury cleared his head just in time to see Venus coming down on him, quickly forming into a puddle and slipping forward, narrowly avoiding Venus' heavy body crashing down. As he reformed, Mercury whirled around and whipped out his arm to fire his Grab Buster, but Venus was nowhere to be seen. "What the-?" was all Mercury could manage to mutter before Venus, airborne again, came smashing down from above him, crushing him into the floor. Mercury's fingers twitched pathetically as Venus stepped off of him.
"Mercury has been destroyed!" Rock announced to the roaring crowd as Venus, Uranus, and Gravity Man celebrated, while Pluto palmed his face and muttered in disgust under his breath. "Therefore Uranus, Gravity Man, and Venus gain immunity from the next Sideshow!"
Pluto sat down, crossed his legs, and moped. "Stupid, stupid Terra…"
-
The Asylum's note:
Stupid Terra indeed. Sorry Pluto, you're fucked. I must now prepare my inbox for the thousands of flames from angry Terra fans. And don't forget to visit my feedback forums too!
-The Asylum (Chill Man)