"There's a conflict inside of me, raging day and night. I know I'm
just a robot. . .but inside. . .it feels like I can be more."
"You can be, Rose. . .you are not merely programming, you know."
"But I don't want to be vulnerable. . .I've seen what other sentient beings have done to each other. When they get close, they only hurt one another deeper and deeper. I'm afraid."
"Safety is something we must sacrifice in order to truly live."
Mitsuko found consciousness within the buzzing of metallic wings, as well as a song-and-dance number occurring before her head. Opening an eye, she tried to swat the Buzz away from her face, only to remember that the Buzz messenger was to inform them of the time they were to depart for Sakhmet City's center. She was immediately alert, clearing all grogginess from her mind, blinking hard to get her programming fully functioning for consciousness. Standing up from the couch, she rushed over to the room where Dr. Sloth slept, the Buzz following after her, singing the message mindlessly in an imitation of Fyora's voice.
"Frank!"
She burst through his door, shaking the man from his sleep. Grumbling something about reckless young Neopets, Dr. Sloth reached blindly for his glasses, missing on his first few tries and succeeding on his fourth. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he put on his glasses, turning his attention towards Mitsuko.
"What's the matter? Is the house burning?"
"No. We must leave. The message has arrived." Dr. Sloth looked up to the Buzz that sung and danced in the air obliviously happily, fixing his glasses.
"Indeed," he replied dully. "Shut that thing off, will you? I'll get dressed-you can go eat some breakfast if you feel the need."
Mitsuko obliged, grabbing the Buzz from the air and snapping it off, the messenger going limp in her hands. She placed it back inside of her chest cavity and walked out of the room, not thinking twice to ask whether Dr. Sloth needed help to get clothed. It was obvious that he had lived alone, and must have had some way to make up for the loss of his legs. She didn't feel she needed breakfast, however-she merely checked the place where she had been stabbed, hoping that the patchwork would hold up. Dr. Sloth hadn't found the time to reinforce the wound.
As soon as Dr. Sloth wheeled out of the door, Mitsuko grabbed the handle bars of his wheelchair and steered him towards the door, not pausing to allow him to eat breakfast. Her internal clock told her that it was much later than the actual arriving time, as well as the tension that she had experienced between Dr. Sloth and Fyora the other day. Dr. Sloth gripped to the arm rests as they charged through the door, his face clearly displaying shock.
"You know, I was planning to at least have some coffee!" shouted Dr. Sloth, sand kicking up around them as Mitsuko sped forward, nearly lifting from the ground, even thinking about putting her boosters to good use.
"There's no time for that-we're late," replied Mitsuko. Sure enough, as they looked forwards, the bustle of people in the center of Sakhmet City was at an all-time high, the loudspeakers blasting through the crowd's shouting. Above the arena, now decorated with rows of hanging ivy, illusions of waterfalls and bright, flashing lights, were bands of faeries, monitoring the action below, breaking up fights when they broke out among those placing bets. These images became increasingly larger as Mitsuko and Dr. Sloth rushed closer and closer, Mitsuko showing no sign of slowing.
"Mitsuko, don't worry about me! You're the one who should be rushing- the sponsors don't really need to be there unless they're going to be coaching on the sidelines!" informed Dr. Sloth, shouting for the wind rushing past them muffled his voice. "Besides, I'm not very comfortable at this speed!"
"Very well."
Mitsuko came skidding to a stop, Dr. Sloth nearly flying out of the wheelchair, Mitsuko just barely catching him to place him back in the seat. The doctor coughed, shaking his head and smoothing what little hair he had, which was ruffled from the speed they had been traveling at. Mitsuko barely managed a farewell before she was up into the air, increasing her speed drastically as she used her boosters to launch herself towards the center of Sakhmet, slowing above the line of robot slowly filing in, dropping down into their ranks.
Her arrival was hardly noticed, and quickly Mitsuko realized that she was among what Phil had called the 'lesser robots'-those that would not survive past the first round. Frantically, she tried to push her way out of their horde, but found her efforts futile-they were like a metal wall, impossible to push through. She was forced into their so-called line, being compressed into smaller lines as they got closer to a podium, the sides roped off by twine. In no time, she was pushed in front of the podium, a Gelert with a half an ear addressing her, seeming to be the one marking off names.
"Model number and casual name?"
"1748 and Mitsuko. But-"
"Here you are," exclaimed the Gelert, cutting her off. "May I ask where your sponsor. . .Frank Sloth is?"
"He's coming. . .slowly. But-"
"Alright," commented the Gelert dismissively, marking something off on his sheet. "NEXT!"
Before she knew what was happening, she was shoved back into the chaos of the lesser robots. It baffled her to learn that her name had been on the list of those who would be broken into bits-but as she reflected upon it, it didn't really surprise her, as well as the late warning given by the messenger Buzz. Fyora had set her up well-she had placed her among those who would undoubtedly perish, hoping that she would be dragged down with them.
Fuming inside, she opened her chest cavity, seeing that other robots were taking out their weapons as well as putting on somewhat flimsy-looking armor. She reached deep into her chest cavity, searching for a weapon. To her surprise, her hands did not land on the messenger Buzz first, who would be no more good than a Stone Snowball within the confines of the tournament- instead, she felt the coldness of a metal hilt. Pulling it out, she found that it was the hilt of the Battle Faerie's sword upon closer inspection. The blade was absent, and for a moment her heart fell, knowing that a hilt would be just as useless as the messenger Buzz-but in an instant, the great white blade retracted, showing its full potential.
"Not bad," she whispered to herself, eyeing the blade with admiration, even if it had served as a weapon for the enemy. She wondered whether she would need to know magic to shoot water from its tip-still, hacking and slashing worked for her as well.
The crowd, including Mitsuko, was ushered, or rather pushed roughly, into a dark waiting room, a large door at the end of the corridor, the walls made of stone. The voice from a loudspeaker flowed into the area which was quickly packed with more and more robots, Mitsuko finding it impossible not to touch at least one robot, and soon found herself smashed against the back of a robotic Skeith, and not one with a particularly pleasant odor.
From outside, she could hear the roar of crowds, as well as the announcement of names. These, she realized, must have been what Phil had called the 'heavyweights': those that were famous and could easily crush the army-like numbers of lesser robots. There was about fifty names called on the loudspeaker, at least of what Mitsuko could hear-each followed by a boom of applause and shouts of encouragement from those who had bet on the particular robot, and boos from those who hadn't. Finally, there was a loud announcement, followed by shoves of greater intensity and the loud roaring of the crowds. Through it all, however, she could hear a single voice, a soft hand on her shoulder.
"The message. . .you have it, don't you?"
Looking back to see who had touched her, Mitsuko found herself gazing down at a stunningly familiar robot-one with a Kiko form. His face screen was still cracked, but facial features were somewhat discernable; the only visible difference from when she had last seen him among the wreckage of other robots from RARE was that he now held a wooden shield and sword.
"Kummer?"
But there was no time for chatting, or recognizing old comrades. She felt a great shove, and suddenly she was stumbling forwards along with the rest, out of their relative safety of the dark corridor and into the terrible brilliance of the light. She squinted against the sudden adjustment in light, holding her arm over her eyes. The dust being kicked up from the robots around her also made it difficult to see, the dust getting into her eyes as well as her body parts, making it temporarily difficult for her to move. Coughing a bit, she looked up into the crowds, searching for his face although she knew she wouldn't be able to find it, even if he was there. Reality did not differ from her prediction-the crowds were too thick, and Phil's will was too strong.
"FIGHT!"
The word cut through the noise like a knife through butter, reaching all ears in a mile radius. In a split second, everything changed from relative chaos of a churning crowd to something much worse: utter loss of control.
Mitsuko could feel, smell and sense attacks aiming at her from all angles, from her own comrades, not to mention long-range missile assault from the heavyweights, who seemed to be standing in the middle, waiting for the lesser robots to pick each other off until only the strongest were left for them to eliminate. Instantly, the programming embedded within Mitsuko's consciousness kicked in, sparking through her body. With hardly her willing, her arm swung and the blade of the Battle Faerie blocked multiple attacks without leaving so much as a dent on its legendary metal.
Realizing that she was submerged in a crowd of complete anarchy, she embraced the spirit, gripping the hilt of her sword. Firing up her boosters, she hovered a few inches above the ground, slashing away attacks with great sweeps of the sword. Holding her weapon in front of her, the edge of the blade facing forward instead of the tip, she shot forwards, leaving in her wake a line of destructed robotic parts, putting many robots out of commission early into the game. She was too fast for their meager attacks-even the better 'lesser' robots had a difficult time keeping up with her speedy rounds through the crowds, Mitsuko generating plenty of material for the junkyard.
Her streak of disaster, however, could not last forever, and she knew this as soon as she felt the Yellow Snowball strike her in the side of the face, making her tumble to the ground amid a flock of angry robots, disliking the apparent advantage that she had over them. They circled her like hungry vultures, all seeming to want to get a piece of the well- designed newbie. Memories of the occurrence in the part shop in Krishna's town fluttered into her mind, and without hesitation she jumped to her feet, looking around at her opponents with a wild grin on her face, almost giddy from the exhilaration of abolishing her enemies.
She took down half of them with a single blow from her weapon, swinging it like a baseball bat, taking down a good portion of them. The rest of the robots descended upon her, a pack of wolves after an elk. Shooting up into the air, she did a back flip in the air and shot back down upon them, kicking a few to the ground, forcing them to eat the sand, and bashing others with her sword, sending many onto the ground, never to function for the remainder of the tournament. There were still many left, however, and the lesser robots seemed to be attracted to her now, as if sensing that they just might be able to take down one of their superiors if they all collaborated in a single effort. Seeing this only proved to make Mitsuko more excited, the Shoyru instinctively letting out a war whoop of joy, plunging into the crowds of robots.
She raced down into their ranks among them, speeding through them as a swimmer cut through water. Many of them dared hit her, and for that she replied with a whack of her hard metal tail, which flailed behind her, knocking many weak robots out. As one large Lupe robot stepped in front of her path, she rolled forwards, springing off of her arms into a back flip, catapulting over his head, stabbing through the mechanisms in his back simultaneously, the Lupe falling behind her. Almost landing on her feet, but activating her boosters just in time, she flew upwards just to temporarily see how many foes she had left to eliminate. She had cut down the crowd to about a quarter of their original amount, and there was still civil wars within the crowd. The heavyweights were beginning to join in on the action, reducing the crowd for her even more until she had only twenty left to finish off.
Rocketing back down, she slammed into the remainder of the lesser robots with all of her body weight, slamming many to the ground. They were the strongest of the weak, however, and weren't about to go down just with a hard shove. Brushing themselves off and getting to their feet, they fired a variety of elemental attacks from impressive weapons. Mitsuko fell back, holding up the Battle Faerie's sword to take the heat of the attacks, reflecting some back at their owner's, causing them to reel backwards, even knocking some out of the tournament altogether.
Hollering a cry of victory, she charged at the lesser robots, blade held forth, point facing them. She skewered two of them on the end of the blade, and swung the blade to the side with her victims still attached, causing them to slam into the rest of their comrades, knocking them all to the ground. While they lay stunned, taking a while to regain their wits, Mitsuko flew high into the air and pointed the blade's tip downwards, preparing to finish them off with one mighty sweep of her blade. The blade, though, had different plans.
It began to rattle in her hands, as if it had a mind of its own. For a fearful moment, she was afraid she would drop it, losing her only weapon. She kept a better grip, wondering what was happening to the blade, hoping that it wouldn't break. Without warning, a long stream of water shot from the tip of the blade, immersing the remaining lesser robots, freezing after all of them were sufficiently wet, rendering them unable to fight, encased within a layer of ice.
Mitsuko landed on the ground, catching her breath momentarily, holding the sword at her side. The heavyweights, some of them already knocked out because of infighting, gazed over to her, grins spreading across their faces. A large Jetsam robot approached her in an almost civil manner. Mitsuko kept on guard, not trusting a single robot in the arena.
"Thank you, strongest of the weak, for finishing off our opponents. Now, we shall do the same for you!"
In an instant, Mitsuko found that she was being assaulted by many assorted weapons, all reaching out for her like horrible arms, mechanical arms. Somewhere in her memory she could remember being chased as such-but she had no time to reflect. She raced away from where she had been standing, just barely avoiding destruction. Unfortunately, she found that some of their weapons were blessed (or cursed, rather) with the ability to pursue, some of them managing to catch up with her and hitting her hard, knocking her to the ground. A loud roar of approval from the crowd sounded, cheering against the little Shoyru robot.
Panting, struggling to get up from the ground, she lifted her head and glared. "That's where you're wrong, scum," she growled, and shot upwards in the blink of an eye, any attacks aimed at her missing from her sheer speed. Hanging up high for a moment, she then tilted downwards, stooping like a mad Pteri falcon going at a flushed pheasant. The Jetsam hardly knew what hit him-when he looked down, he discovered that he was in two pieces instead of one, his head slowly toppling over to the side, red eyes blinking out of existence.
"Get the Shoyru!" shrieked a voice from the heavyweights, but they didn't need directions. Those that could fly took to the air after her, their heavy wings clanking, not allowing them much height. Mitsuko panicked and fled, a line of aerial robots following after her. She managed to regain her head in the air, able to keep out of their clutches for long enough to think through a plan in her mind.
Mitsuko dove downwards suddenly, turning so that she flew on her back, underneath the bellies of the robotic Neopets, too slow to react to her sudden change in direction. She was at the end of the line in no time, the line ending with a rather hefty Skeith, struggling to stay in the air. She shot up over him and then relaxed her boosters, falling onto his back like a cowboy mounting his horse.
The Skeith began to freak out, bucking and whipping around in the air. Mitsuko cut off his arms, filled with weapons, and grabbed his helmet, pulling it over her face and giving a roar like a barbarian. She stabbed her sword downwards into the Skeith's head, damaging his hard drive beyond repair. The Skeith dropped, and Mitsuko detached from her former mount, following onto the next in line, beginning to steal weaponry and armor of her victims.
The leader of the line in the air was beginning to loop around, hoping to catch up with Mitsuko at the end. Increasing in speed, the other Shoyru robot that headed the line caught up with Mitsuko, currently on the back of a robotic Eyrie. He grinned, seeing that she was unsuspecting, and lunged at her to knock her off of her mount. He erred in predicting how alert Mitsuko was, however-and soon found himself crashing hard into the Eyrie, the two tangling themselves up and making themselves vulnerable to Mitsuko's attack. She cut them down from the air, knocking them out of commission, snatching their weapons as they tumbled from the air.
Looking at some of the weapon she had snatched up, she discovered a bottle with the markings of a twister on its side. An idea sparked in her head, and she grinned deviously, shoving some of the weapons into her chest cavity. Uncorking the bottle, she dumped its contents onto the ground, directly next to the robots on the ground. Those in the air headed towards her, unaware of what was about to happen.
From the ground, a cyclone began to form, rising from the ground and into the air, colored tan from the sand on the ground. The cries of robots being sucked into the tornado could be heard all around, especially those in the air-even Mitsuko, firing her boosters against the tornado's current, found it difficult to resist the force of the twister. All on the ground were unfortunate enough to be sucked in as well to the circling tornado of robot bodies, crashing against each other and denting their bodies. Dazed and confused robots fired off their weapons, making the tornado even more hazardous. The audience was either deadly silent or were screaming, but sound muffled by the howling of the intense wind.
Soon, the tornado died down, Mitsuko landing on the ground. She was battered and dented, and the wound in her stomach was leaking slightly, but other than that, she was in surprisingly good condition for having just fended off an entire army of robots supposedly superior to her. Around her lay the bodies of her enemies, and she removed the Grundo helmet that the late Skeith had worn, fitting it underneath her arm, standing straightly and proud, flaring her wings.
The crowd was silent for a moment, as if disbelieving that a robot that had originally been of the lesser class could possibly even stand victor against the rest of the robot. Then, they broke into peals of applause, louder than anything Mitsuko had ever heard, booming through her ears. She lifted her sword, not the Battle Faerie's, into the air in a stance of triumph, knowing that this part of the tournament was, thank the Heavens, over.
Robot medics, so to speak, ran out onto the arena in an effort to find any robots that would still be in commission enough for the final eight. Six were found that were only dazed and not defeated-one was missing. The robot medics gave a look to one another, nervous, supporting the robots that they had found functioning and able to compete in the final eight.
"It seems there are only six left. . .what will they do?!" announced the loudspeaker.
Mitsuko's eyes wandered to what looked like a box seat in the audience, a large room in the midst of common folk surrounded by thick curtain, masking whomever was inside of it. As she stared at it, the curtains were suddenly drawn aside. Stepping out from inside of the curtain- covered enclosure came a feminine form, curvy and from what Mitsuko could make out, somewhat attractive, for a faerie, at least. There was something wrong with her, however-she couldn't make it out from the long distance, however, and contented herself to watch the faerie, holding what seemed to be some kind of metal rope that trailed inside of the boxed off area. She took a deep breath, and began to speak, her voice loud despite not being magnified by any device that Mitsuko could see.
"Worry not, my subjects!" she cried, her voice booming and inspiring, alighting the hearts of many. "All has been arranged and foreseen by our many great faerie seers. There are seven remaining-I myself will supply the appropriately matched eighth."
Approval was sounded by the audience, and the robotic medics began to usher out those who remained standing. Mitsuko found herself taken by the arm by one of them, roughly pulling her to the exit. She followed, but looked behind her shoulder. Large machines, almost like dump trucks, rolled from the side of the arena into the center, beginning to scoop up the scrap metal littered through the arena. Among those robots which would eventually be picked from the pile and identified by their owners, Mitsuko knew there was Kummer, the deranged Kiko robot said to be Neopets Version 2. (Whatever that was.) His constant prodding of her for some kind of message disturbed her greater than she would ever let on, leaving her uneasy inside.
But she didn't have to think about Kummer now. She had won, in a sense, and would be moving onto the next round, making history in the progress, the very first of the lesser robots to remain in the final eight. Lucky, perhaps, because of the bottled tornado, but she had survived. She was that much closer to rescuing Krishna from captivity.
The robotic medics led her into a subdivision of the arena, which was basically a small building used for repairing and fixing up the final eight. Her opponents for the next rounds were brought into their own rooms, accompanied by the robotic medic (which would usually run off to inform the sponsor of the robot of their victory) as well as at least one faerie. These faeries, however, were different-their wrists were enclosed in shackles, and they were dragged about by a healthier looking faerie, themselves looking old and tired.
'Slaves. . .' Mitsuko thought to herself, barely noticing as she was pushed into a room. The door was closed, leaving Mitsuko alone, the robotic medic most likely running off to inform Dr. Sloth of Mitsuko being in the final eight. Idly, Mitsuko sat down on the only article of furniture in the room-a bed. She was a bit short for it, and her feet dangled down like a little child on an adult's chair. To kill time, she searched over her body for any particular areas of damage, finding that the reopened 'wound' in her torso was suffering the worst.
The door opened after a moment, and Mitsuko's head snapped up. Into the room was dragged two slaves, bound to one another by a chain link, the end held by a vicious-looking fire faerie. She threw down the leash end of the shackles and snorted. "Tidy up this robot nicely-she'll need it for tomorrow." With those cold words, the fire faerie exited, slamming the door behind herself.
Mitsuko looked at the two slaves before her, blinking. The first was an Earth faerie, apparent by her scraggly auburn hair, glowing green eyes, green, leaf-like wings and ripped green dress. She was slumped over and looked older than any other faerie Mitsuko had ever seen, and much more miserable, a hopeless, mindless smile on her face. The next was jarringly familiar, and was, unlike many other faeries, male, his head bowed downwards, showing her the top of his dirty green hair. He lacked wings, which also lightened something in Mitsuko's mind, making her stomach drop. The Earth faerie began to get to work immediately, but the other faerie was slow to respond, seeming unwilling to work. The Earth faerie elbowed him harshly, a frown on her face.
"Come now, Mr. Krishna. . .this robot needs our aid."
At the mention of his name, the faerie seemed to snarl, glaring at his partner. Mitsuko, however, was taken aback, nearly hitting the Earth faerie in the face by the sudden jerk coursing through her body.
"Dr. Krishna!"
The faerie looked up dully, and indeed, Mitsuko recognized the face instantly, refreshing the image of him in her mind, though in many ways, she wished she hadn't seen him like this. His hair had grown out long and filthy, and his fair skin looked burned and bruised. His wrists were raw from the shackles, and on his chest was displayed a foreign symbol, quite obviously burned into his skin by some kind of brand. But what struck Mitsuko the most were his crimson eyes-they lacked any kind of pupil, and seemed empty and unintelligent, quite unlike the Krishna Mitsuko remembered.
"Yes, ma'am?" he replied, his voice a disinteresting monotone.
"Dr. Krishna, it's me, Mitsuko. Are you okay?"
"I don't know anybody named Mitsuko," he answered, blinking, his expressionless face hardly twitching. "I certainly don't know any robots."
"What are you talking about? This body here-you made it. How can't you recognize it?"
"I don't make machines, I repair them. I'm just a servant."
"You'll have to forgive the halfling, dear," piped up the Earth faerie, her voice understanding as she began to work on the dents on Mitsuko's body. "I'm sure you do know him from the past-sadly, he won't recognize you."
"And why is this?"
"He was a bit.resistant to the Empress Tahora's orders. It figures-he was a scientist, after all. The Empress Tahora has a binding spell on him- she has it on many other slaves as well. It keeps them obedient and quiet- virtually wipes their memory clean too."
"Forever?"
"Well, until the spell ends. It's not an easy spell to break." Mitsuko set her jaw, grasping Krishna suddenly by the cheeks, pulling his emotionless face towards hers.
"Dr. Krishna. I know you're in there somewhere. Answer me," demanded Mitsuko, staring him straight in the eye. It was difficult to look him in the eye, however, for there was no pupil to stare into. Her chest cavity popped open without her willing, the messenger Buzz suddenly jumping from the compartment, seeming to have activated itself.
"Return to sender, return to sender, I've been returned to my sender!" sang the little messenger Buzz, circling around Krishna's head. Mitsuko ignored him, swatting the Buzz, who deactivated. She shoved him back into her chest cavity quickly.
"Fight the spell," she insisted to Krishna, trying to find the Krishna she knew inside of those empty eyes.
"Please. You're scaring me," said Krishna, hardly sounding frightened, moving her arms so he could work on her framework.
"Don't try and contact with him-it'll only confuse him. Besides, you're lucky that the Empress Tahora let you see him at all-he's become like a little lap dog to him. I guess she enjoys humiliating half-breeds like him," said the Earth faerie with a shrug. "Anyway, where'd you get this injury from? It will take the robotic medic to fix this injury."
"I had a run in with a weapon. . .it makes my gas tank leak."
"So I've noticed." The Earth faerie continued to socialize pleasantly, but obviously she was ordered to be amiable and talk on less controversial subjects. Mitsuko hardly even noticed as the robotic medic came back in and began fixing the wound on her stomach. Her eyes were focused on Krishna, just staring at him. He didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't seem to care. She knew that the one week where he repaired her was gone in his mind-she knew that he couldn't remember her, but he wanted him to. After all, he was the whole reason she was even doing this after all. For the man who had repaired her, who had taken her from a junkyard. For the man who was so terribly alone in his own secluded little place.
Maybe that's why she had to save him now. To buy him off of that Empress Tahora, to demand his release from the spell. To renew his memory. Yes, that would allow her to keep fighting on for her purpose-maybe she wouldn't be able to achieve it, but she had to try. She had to try and free Dr. Krishna, in her mind her father, from the captivity she knew that he would hate. She had to try.
"You can be, Rose. . .you are not merely programming, you know."
"But I don't want to be vulnerable. . .I've seen what other sentient beings have done to each other. When they get close, they only hurt one another deeper and deeper. I'm afraid."
"Safety is something we must sacrifice in order to truly live."
Mitsuko found consciousness within the buzzing of metallic wings, as well as a song-and-dance number occurring before her head. Opening an eye, she tried to swat the Buzz away from her face, only to remember that the Buzz messenger was to inform them of the time they were to depart for Sakhmet City's center. She was immediately alert, clearing all grogginess from her mind, blinking hard to get her programming fully functioning for consciousness. Standing up from the couch, she rushed over to the room where Dr. Sloth slept, the Buzz following after her, singing the message mindlessly in an imitation of Fyora's voice.
"Frank!"
She burst through his door, shaking the man from his sleep. Grumbling something about reckless young Neopets, Dr. Sloth reached blindly for his glasses, missing on his first few tries and succeeding on his fourth. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he put on his glasses, turning his attention towards Mitsuko.
"What's the matter? Is the house burning?"
"No. We must leave. The message has arrived." Dr. Sloth looked up to the Buzz that sung and danced in the air obliviously happily, fixing his glasses.
"Indeed," he replied dully. "Shut that thing off, will you? I'll get dressed-you can go eat some breakfast if you feel the need."
Mitsuko obliged, grabbing the Buzz from the air and snapping it off, the messenger going limp in her hands. She placed it back inside of her chest cavity and walked out of the room, not thinking twice to ask whether Dr. Sloth needed help to get clothed. It was obvious that he had lived alone, and must have had some way to make up for the loss of his legs. She didn't feel she needed breakfast, however-she merely checked the place where she had been stabbed, hoping that the patchwork would hold up. Dr. Sloth hadn't found the time to reinforce the wound.
As soon as Dr. Sloth wheeled out of the door, Mitsuko grabbed the handle bars of his wheelchair and steered him towards the door, not pausing to allow him to eat breakfast. Her internal clock told her that it was much later than the actual arriving time, as well as the tension that she had experienced between Dr. Sloth and Fyora the other day. Dr. Sloth gripped to the arm rests as they charged through the door, his face clearly displaying shock.
"You know, I was planning to at least have some coffee!" shouted Dr. Sloth, sand kicking up around them as Mitsuko sped forward, nearly lifting from the ground, even thinking about putting her boosters to good use.
"There's no time for that-we're late," replied Mitsuko. Sure enough, as they looked forwards, the bustle of people in the center of Sakhmet City was at an all-time high, the loudspeakers blasting through the crowd's shouting. Above the arena, now decorated with rows of hanging ivy, illusions of waterfalls and bright, flashing lights, were bands of faeries, monitoring the action below, breaking up fights when they broke out among those placing bets. These images became increasingly larger as Mitsuko and Dr. Sloth rushed closer and closer, Mitsuko showing no sign of slowing.
"Mitsuko, don't worry about me! You're the one who should be rushing- the sponsors don't really need to be there unless they're going to be coaching on the sidelines!" informed Dr. Sloth, shouting for the wind rushing past them muffled his voice. "Besides, I'm not very comfortable at this speed!"
"Very well."
Mitsuko came skidding to a stop, Dr. Sloth nearly flying out of the wheelchair, Mitsuko just barely catching him to place him back in the seat. The doctor coughed, shaking his head and smoothing what little hair he had, which was ruffled from the speed they had been traveling at. Mitsuko barely managed a farewell before she was up into the air, increasing her speed drastically as she used her boosters to launch herself towards the center of Sakhmet, slowing above the line of robot slowly filing in, dropping down into their ranks.
Her arrival was hardly noticed, and quickly Mitsuko realized that she was among what Phil had called the 'lesser robots'-those that would not survive past the first round. Frantically, she tried to push her way out of their horde, but found her efforts futile-they were like a metal wall, impossible to push through. She was forced into their so-called line, being compressed into smaller lines as they got closer to a podium, the sides roped off by twine. In no time, she was pushed in front of the podium, a Gelert with a half an ear addressing her, seeming to be the one marking off names.
"Model number and casual name?"
"1748 and Mitsuko. But-"
"Here you are," exclaimed the Gelert, cutting her off. "May I ask where your sponsor. . .Frank Sloth is?"
"He's coming. . .slowly. But-"
"Alright," commented the Gelert dismissively, marking something off on his sheet. "NEXT!"
Before she knew what was happening, she was shoved back into the chaos of the lesser robots. It baffled her to learn that her name had been on the list of those who would be broken into bits-but as she reflected upon it, it didn't really surprise her, as well as the late warning given by the messenger Buzz. Fyora had set her up well-she had placed her among those who would undoubtedly perish, hoping that she would be dragged down with them.
Fuming inside, she opened her chest cavity, seeing that other robots were taking out their weapons as well as putting on somewhat flimsy-looking armor. She reached deep into her chest cavity, searching for a weapon. To her surprise, her hands did not land on the messenger Buzz first, who would be no more good than a Stone Snowball within the confines of the tournament- instead, she felt the coldness of a metal hilt. Pulling it out, she found that it was the hilt of the Battle Faerie's sword upon closer inspection. The blade was absent, and for a moment her heart fell, knowing that a hilt would be just as useless as the messenger Buzz-but in an instant, the great white blade retracted, showing its full potential.
"Not bad," she whispered to herself, eyeing the blade with admiration, even if it had served as a weapon for the enemy. She wondered whether she would need to know magic to shoot water from its tip-still, hacking and slashing worked for her as well.
The crowd, including Mitsuko, was ushered, or rather pushed roughly, into a dark waiting room, a large door at the end of the corridor, the walls made of stone. The voice from a loudspeaker flowed into the area which was quickly packed with more and more robots, Mitsuko finding it impossible not to touch at least one robot, and soon found herself smashed against the back of a robotic Skeith, and not one with a particularly pleasant odor.
From outside, she could hear the roar of crowds, as well as the announcement of names. These, she realized, must have been what Phil had called the 'heavyweights': those that were famous and could easily crush the army-like numbers of lesser robots. There was about fifty names called on the loudspeaker, at least of what Mitsuko could hear-each followed by a boom of applause and shouts of encouragement from those who had bet on the particular robot, and boos from those who hadn't. Finally, there was a loud announcement, followed by shoves of greater intensity and the loud roaring of the crowds. Through it all, however, she could hear a single voice, a soft hand on her shoulder.
"The message. . .you have it, don't you?"
Looking back to see who had touched her, Mitsuko found herself gazing down at a stunningly familiar robot-one with a Kiko form. His face screen was still cracked, but facial features were somewhat discernable; the only visible difference from when she had last seen him among the wreckage of other robots from RARE was that he now held a wooden shield and sword.
"Kummer?"
But there was no time for chatting, or recognizing old comrades. She felt a great shove, and suddenly she was stumbling forwards along with the rest, out of their relative safety of the dark corridor and into the terrible brilliance of the light. She squinted against the sudden adjustment in light, holding her arm over her eyes. The dust being kicked up from the robots around her also made it difficult to see, the dust getting into her eyes as well as her body parts, making it temporarily difficult for her to move. Coughing a bit, she looked up into the crowds, searching for his face although she knew she wouldn't be able to find it, even if he was there. Reality did not differ from her prediction-the crowds were too thick, and Phil's will was too strong.
"FIGHT!"
The word cut through the noise like a knife through butter, reaching all ears in a mile radius. In a split second, everything changed from relative chaos of a churning crowd to something much worse: utter loss of control.
Mitsuko could feel, smell and sense attacks aiming at her from all angles, from her own comrades, not to mention long-range missile assault from the heavyweights, who seemed to be standing in the middle, waiting for the lesser robots to pick each other off until only the strongest were left for them to eliminate. Instantly, the programming embedded within Mitsuko's consciousness kicked in, sparking through her body. With hardly her willing, her arm swung and the blade of the Battle Faerie blocked multiple attacks without leaving so much as a dent on its legendary metal.
Realizing that she was submerged in a crowd of complete anarchy, she embraced the spirit, gripping the hilt of her sword. Firing up her boosters, she hovered a few inches above the ground, slashing away attacks with great sweeps of the sword. Holding her weapon in front of her, the edge of the blade facing forward instead of the tip, she shot forwards, leaving in her wake a line of destructed robotic parts, putting many robots out of commission early into the game. She was too fast for their meager attacks-even the better 'lesser' robots had a difficult time keeping up with her speedy rounds through the crowds, Mitsuko generating plenty of material for the junkyard.
Her streak of disaster, however, could not last forever, and she knew this as soon as she felt the Yellow Snowball strike her in the side of the face, making her tumble to the ground amid a flock of angry robots, disliking the apparent advantage that she had over them. They circled her like hungry vultures, all seeming to want to get a piece of the well- designed newbie. Memories of the occurrence in the part shop in Krishna's town fluttered into her mind, and without hesitation she jumped to her feet, looking around at her opponents with a wild grin on her face, almost giddy from the exhilaration of abolishing her enemies.
She took down half of them with a single blow from her weapon, swinging it like a baseball bat, taking down a good portion of them. The rest of the robots descended upon her, a pack of wolves after an elk. Shooting up into the air, she did a back flip in the air and shot back down upon them, kicking a few to the ground, forcing them to eat the sand, and bashing others with her sword, sending many onto the ground, never to function for the remainder of the tournament. There were still many left, however, and the lesser robots seemed to be attracted to her now, as if sensing that they just might be able to take down one of their superiors if they all collaborated in a single effort. Seeing this only proved to make Mitsuko more excited, the Shoyru instinctively letting out a war whoop of joy, plunging into the crowds of robots.
She raced down into their ranks among them, speeding through them as a swimmer cut through water. Many of them dared hit her, and for that she replied with a whack of her hard metal tail, which flailed behind her, knocking many weak robots out. As one large Lupe robot stepped in front of her path, she rolled forwards, springing off of her arms into a back flip, catapulting over his head, stabbing through the mechanisms in his back simultaneously, the Lupe falling behind her. Almost landing on her feet, but activating her boosters just in time, she flew upwards just to temporarily see how many foes she had left to eliminate. She had cut down the crowd to about a quarter of their original amount, and there was still civil wars within the crowd. The heavyweights were beginning to join in on the action, reducing the crowd for her even more until she had only twenty left to finish off.
Rocketing back down, she slammed into the remainder of the lesser robots with all of her body weight, slamming many to the ground. They were the strongest of the weak, however, and weren't about to go down just with a hard shove. Brushing themselves off and getting to their feet, they fired a variety of elemental attacks from impressive weapons. Mitsuko fell back, holding up the Battle Faerie's sword to take the heat of the attacks, reflecting some back at their owner's, causing them to reel backwards, even knocking some out of the tournament altogether.
Hollering a cry of victory, she charged at the lesser robots, blade held forth, point facing them. She skewered two of them on the end of the blade, and swung the blade to the side with her victims still attached, causing them to slam into the rest of their comrades, knocking them all to the ground. While they lay stunned, taking a while to regain their wits, Mitsuko flew high into the air and pointed the blade's tip downwards, preparing to finish them off with one mighty sweep of her blade. The blade, though, had different plans.
It began to rattle in her hands, as if it had a mind of its own. For a fearful moment, she was afraid she would drop it, losing her only weapon. She kept a better grip, wondering what was happening to the blade, hoping that it wouldn't break. Without warning, a long stream of water shot from the tip of the blade, immersing the remaining lesser robots, freezing after all of them were sufficiently wet, rendering them unable to fight, encased within a layer of ice.
Mitsuko landed on the ground, catching her breath momentarily, holding the sword at her side. The heavyweights, some of them already knocked out because of infighting, gazed over to her, grins spreading across their faces. A large Jetsam robot approached her in an almost civil manner. Mitsuko kept on guard, not trusting a single robot in the arena.
"Thank you, strongest of the weak, for finishing off our opponents. Now, we shall do the same for you!"
In an instant, Mitsuko found that she was being assaulted by many assorted weapons, all reaching out for her like horrible arms, mechanical arms. Somewhere in her memory she could remember being chased as such-but she had no time to reflect. She raced away from where she had been standing, just barely avoiding destruction. Unfortunately, she found that some of their weapons were blessed (or cursed, rather) with the ability to pursue, some of them managing to catch up with her and hitting her hard, knocking her to the ground. A loud roar of approval from the crowd sounded, cheering against the little Shoyru robot.
Panting, struggling to get up from the ground, she lifted her head and glared. "That's where you're wrong, scum," she growled, and shot upwards in the blink of an eye, any attacks aimed at her missing from her sheer speed. Hanging up high for a moment, she then tilted downwards, stooping like a mad Pteri falcon going at a flushed pheasant. The Jetsam hardly knew what hit him-when he looked down, he discovered that he was in two pieces instead of one, his head slowly toppling over to the side, red eyes blinking out of existence.
"Get the Shoyru!" shrieked a voice from the heavyweights, but they didn't need directions. Those that could fly took to the air after her, their heavy wings clanking, not allowing them much height. Mitsuko panicked and fled, a line of aerial robots following after her. She managed to regain her head in the air, able to keep out of their clutches for long enough to think through a plan in her mind.
Mitsuko dove downwards suddenly, turning so that she flew on her back, underneath the bellies of the robotic Neopets, too slow to react to her sudden change in direction. She was at the end of the line in no time, the line ending with a rather hefty Skeith, struggling to stay in the air. She shot up over him and then relaxed her boosters, falling onto his back like a cowboy mounting his horse.
The Skeith began to freak out, bucking and whipping around in the air. Mitsuko cut off his arms, filled with weapons, and grabbed his helmet, pulling it over her face and giving a roar like a barbarian. She stabbed her sword downwards into the Skeith's head, damaging his hard drive beyond repair. The Skeith dropped, and Mitsuko detached from her former mount, following onto the next in line, beginning to steal weaponry and armor of her victims.
The leader of the line in the air was beginning to loop around, hoping to catch up with Mitsuko at the end. Increasing in speed, the other Shoyru robot that headed the line caught up with Mitsuko, currently on the back of a robotic Eyrie. He grinned, seeing that she was unsuspecting, and lunged at her to knock her off of her mount. He erred in predicting how alert Mitsuko was, however-and soon found himself crashing hard into the Eyrie, the two tangling themselves up and making themselves vulnerable to Mitsuko's attack. She cut them down from the air, knocking them out of commission, snatching their weapons as they tumbled from the air.
Looking at some of the weapon she had snatched up, she discovered a bottle with the markings of a twister on its side. An idea sparked in her head, and she grinned deviously, shoving some of the weapons into her chest cavity. Uncorking the bottle, she dumped its contents onto the ground, directly next to the robots on the ground. Those in the air headed towards her, unaware of what was about to happen.
From the ground, a cyclone began to form, rising from the ground and into the air, colored tan from the sand on the ground. The cries of robots being sucked into the tornado could be heard all around, especially those in the air-even Mitsuko, firing her boosters against the tornado's current, found it difficult to resist the force of the twister. All on the ground were unfortunate enough to be sucked in as well to the circling tornado of robot bodies, crashing against each other and denting their bodies. Dazed and confused robots fired off their weapons, making the tornado even more hazardous. The audience was either deadly silent or were screaming, but sound muffled by the howling of the intense wind.
Soon, the tornado died down, Mitsuko landing on the ground. She was battered and dented, and the wound in her stomach was leaking slightly, but other than that, she was in surprisingly good condition for having just fended off an entire army of robots supposedly superior to her. Around her lay the bodies of her enemies, and she removed the Grundo helmet that the late Skeith had worn, fitting it underneath her arm, standing straightly and proud, flaring her wings.
The crowd was silent for a moment, as if disbelieving that a robot that had originally been of the lesser class could possibly even stand victor against the rest of the robot. Then, they broke into peals of applause, louder than anything Mitsuko had ever heard, booming through her ears. She lifted her sword, not the Battle Faerie's, into the air in a stance of triumph, knowing that this part of the tournament was, thank the Heavens, over.
Robot medics, so to speak, ran out onto the arena in an effort to find any robots that would still be in commission enough for the final eight. Six were found that were only dazed and not defeated-one was missing. The robot medics gave a look to one another, nervous, supporting the robots that they had found functioning and able to compete in the final eight.
"It seems there are only six left. . .what will they do?!" announced the loudspeaker.
Mitsuko's eyes wandered to what looked like a box seat in the audience, a large room in the midst of common folk surrounded by thick curtain, masking whomever was inside of it. As she stared at it, the curtains were suddenly drawn aside. Stepping out from inside of the curtain- covered enclosure came a feminine form, curvy and from what Mitsuko could make out, somewhat attractive, for a faerie, at least. There was something wrong with her, however-she couldn't make it out from the long distance, however, and contented herself to watch the faerie, holding what seemed to be some kind of metal rope that trailed inside of the boxed off area. She took a deep breath, and began to speak, her voice loud despite not being magnified by any device that Mitsuko could see.
"Worry not, my subjects!" she cried, her voice booming and inspiring, alighting the hearts of many. "All has been arranged and foreseen by our many great faerie seers. There are seven remaining-I myself will supply the appropriately matched eighth."
Approval was sounded by the audience, and the robotic medics began to usher out those who remained standing. Mitsuko found herself taken by the arm by one of them, roughly pulling her to the exit. She followed, but looked behind her shoulder. Large machines, almost like dump trucks, rolled from the side of the arena into the center, beginning to scoop up the scrap metal littered through the arena. Among those robots which would eventually be picked from the pile and identified by their owners, Mitsuko knew there was Kummer, the deranged Kiko robot said to be Neopets Version 2. (Whatever that was.) His constant prodding of her for some kind of message disturbed her greater than she would ever let on, leaving her uneasy inside.
But she didn't have to think about Kummer now. She had won, in a sense, and would be moving onto the next round, making history in the progress, the very first of the lesser robots to remain in the final eight. Lucky, perhaps, because of the bottled tornado, but she had survived. She was that much closer to rescuing Krishna from captivity.
The robotic medics led her into a subdivision of the arena, which was basically a small building used for repairing and fixing up the final eight. Her opponents for the next rounds were brought into their own rooms, accompanied by the robotic medic (which would usually run off to inform the sponsor of the robot of their victory) as well as at least one faerie. These faeries, however, were different-their wrists were enclosed in shackles, and they were dragged about by a healthier looking faerie, themselves looking old and tired.
'Slaves. . .' Mitsuko thought to herself, barely noticing as she was pushed into a room. The door was closed, leaving Mitsuko alone, the robotic medic most likely running off to inform Dr. Sloth of Mitsuko being in the final eight. Idly, Mitsuko sat down on the only article of furniture in the room-a bed. She was a bit short for it, and her feet dangled down like a little child on an adult's chair. To kill time, she searched over her body for any particular areas of damage, finding that the reopened 'wound' in her torso was suffering the worst.
The door opened after a moment, and Mitsuko's head snapped up. Into the room was dragged two slaves, bound to one another by a chain link, the end held by a vicious-looking fire faerie. She threw down the leash end of the shackles and snorted. "Tidy up this robot nicely-she'll need it for tomorrow." With those cold words, the fire faerie exited, slamming the door behind herself.
Mitsuko looked at the two slaves before her, blinking. The first was an Earth faerie, apparent by her scraggly auburn hair, glowing green eyes, green, leaf-like wings and ripped green dress. She was slumped over and looked older than any other faerie Mitsuko had ever seen, and much more miserable, a hopeless, mindless smile on her face. The next was jarringly familiar, and was, unlike many other faeries, male, his head bowed downwards, showing her the top of his dirty green hair. He lacked wings, which also lightened something in Mitsuko's mind, making her stomach drop. The Earth faerie began to get to work immediately, but the other faerie was slow to respond, seeming unwilling to work. The Earth faerie elbowed him harshly, a frown on her face.
"Come now, Mr. Krishna. . .this robot needs our aid."
At the mention of his name, the faerie seemed to snarl, glaring at his partner. Mitsuko, however, was taken aback, nearly hitting the Earth faerie in the face by the sudden jerk coursing through her body.
"Dr. Krishna!"
The faerie looked up dully, and indeed, Mitsuko recognized the face instantly, refreshing the image of him in her mind, though in many ways, she wished she hadn't seen him like this. His hair had grown out long and filthy, and his fair skin looked burned and bruised. His wrists were raw from the shackles, and on his chest was displayed a foreign symbol, quite obviously burned into his skin by some kind of brand. But what struck Mitsuko the most were his crimson eyes-they lacked any kind of pupil, and seemed empty and unintelligent, quite unlike the Krishna Mitsuko remembered.
"Yes, ma'am?" he replied, his voice a disinteresting monotone.
"Dr. Krishna, it's me, Mitsuko. Are you okay?"
"I don't know anybody named Mitsuko," he answered, blinking, his expressionless face hardly twitching. "I certainly don't know any robots."
"What are you talking about? This body here-you made it. How can't you recognize it?"
"I don't make machines, I repair them. I'm just a servant."
"You'll have to forgive the halfling, dear," piped up the Earth faerie, her voice understanding as she began to work on the dents on Mitsuko's body. "I'm sure you do know him from the past-sadly, he won't recognize you."
"And why is this?"
"He was a bit.resistant to the Empress Tahora's orders. It figures-he was a scientist, after all. The Empress Tahora has a binding spell on him- she has it on many other slaves as well. It keeps them obedient and quiet- virtually wipes their memory clean too."
"Forever?"
"Well, until the spell ends. It's not an easy spell to break." Mitsuko set her jaw, grasping Krishna suddenly by the cheeks, pulling his emotionless face towards hers.
"Dr. Krishna. I know you're in there somewhere. Answer me," demanded Mitsuko, staring him straight in the eye. It was difficult to look him in the eye, however, for there was no pupil to stare into. Her chest cavity popped open without her willing, the messenger Buzz suddenly jumping from the compartment, seeming to have activated itself.
"Return to sender, return to sender, I've been returned to my sender!" sang the little messenger Buzz, circling around Krishna's head. Mitsuko ignored him, swatting the Buzz, who deactivated. She shoved him back into her chest cavity quickly.
"Fight the spell," she insisted to Krishna, trying to find the Krishna she knew inside of those empty eyes.
"Please. You're scaring me," said Krishna, hardly sounding frightened, moving her arms so he could work on her framework.
"Don't try and contact with him-it'll only confuse him. Besides, you're lucky that the Empress Tahora let you see him at all-he's become like a little lap dog to him. I guess she enjoys humiliating half-breeds like him," said the Earth faerie with a shrug. "Anyway, where'd you get this injury from? It will take the robotic medic to fix this injury."
"I had a run in with a weapon. . .it makes my gas tank leak."
"So I've noticed." The Earth faerie continued to socialize pleasantly, but obviously she was ordered to be amiable and talk on less controversial subjects. Mitsuko hardly even noticed as the robotic medic came back in and began fixing the wound on her stomach. Her eyes were focused on Krishna, just staring at him. He didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't seem to care. She knew that the one week where he repaired her was gone in his mind-she knew that he couldn't remember her, but he wanted him to. After all, he was the whole reason she was even doing this after all. For the man who had repaired her, who had taken her from a junkyard. For the man who was so terribly alone in his own secluded little place.
Maybe that's why she had to save him now. To buy him off of that Empress Tahora, to demand his release from the spell. To renew his memory. Yes, that would allow her to keep fighting on for her purpose-maybe she wouldn't be able to achieve it, but she had to try. She had to try and free Dr. Krishna, in her mind her father, from the captivity she knew that he would hate. She had to try.