Chapter 6
Field of Explosions
In the depths of the Gesellschaft sat a man wearing a green suit of Digger armor. His spiky, silver hair shot out behind his head; his eyes were hidden behind red goggles. His name was Teisel Bonne.
"It's about time for Tron and Bon to report in," he muttered to himself. "I'd better go turn on the comm." He flipped a switch on the device.
Five minutes went by.
"What happened to Tron and Bon!?" growled Teisel. "They should've called back by now! Oh, those two ..." He blinked and tried to relax. "No, I told them they were in charge, so I won't worry -- I let them take care of it themselves. Must've forgotten to report in. I've done that."
He glanced at the clock sitting above his television set. "Hey! It's almost time for 'It's a Digger's Life'! I almost missed it!" He sat down and flipped the TV set on with his remote, accidentally on a news channel.
"... to its disadvantage," the reporter was saying."Next story, City Hall was attacked by a mysterious group of pirates this afternoon, but their offensive was beaten back by an equally mysterious young boy." Images of the boy crashing a Horunisse into Bon were shown. "We have not yet had a chance to interview him, but he ..."
Teisel sat staring at the television screen, his mouth hanging open. "WHAT!?" he screamed. "Who the heck IS that blue boy!? This is a potential disaster! We could end up losing a lot of money on this one! Even more than that 'millyard incident!'" He composed himself (sort of). "All right. It's obvious that I'll have to assume command! Who needs that key anyway? It might take some time, and it might take some money, but who cares?" He stood up and struck a dramatic pose (even though there was no one watching). "I use my ultimate digging machine, the Marlwolf, to dig up the treasure myself, and I won't let any blue boy get in my way, either!" He cackled in a manner that he hoped sounded evil, and then noticed something else on the screen.
"... young woman was at the scene beforehand," said the reporter. A low-quality image of Tron was scene. "We also have indications that she was in one of the robots that had been laying siege to the city beforehand, but no further information can be--"
Teisel turned off the television. "Uh-oh," he muttered. "Bon's going to be okay ... but what about Tron?"
"Rock!" exclaimed Roll, racing towards him.
"Roll!" said Rock.
Roll looked him over. "You," she said, "are a mess."
"I know," he said. "But I did it!"
"You sure did," said Roll. "Now let's go look for Gramps!"
"Right," said Rock.
They went into City Hall. The people who hadn't escaped to the Yass Plains were looking somewhat shaken, but seemed unharmed. A receptionist directed Rock and Roll to the Mayor's office.
"Roll, Rock, you're all right!" exclaimed Barrell as the two entered. "Sorry to give you a scare like that!"
"We were worried about you, Gramps!" said Roll, giving her grandfather a hug.
"Well don't be," replied Barrel. "I'm as healthy as I ever was!" He chuckled.
Amelia turned to Rock. "With your help, we were able to keep those pirates from getting the key to the ruins," she said. "Thank you!"
"Any time," said Rock.
"Ah, Rock, you don't have to be so humble!" chortled Barrell. "But anyways, Amelia, what was that you said about a Diggers' license as a reward?"
Amelia smiled. "I know it's not much, but it's the least I can do for you," she said. She handed Rock a card bearing the words Digger License - Class B.
"Great!" said Rock. "Now we can look for parts to fix the Flutter!"
"Now," said Roll, "we can rest up from all this excitement and get your armor fixed and cleaned up so the next time a Reaverbot hits you it doesn't fall off you! C'mon, let's go back to the Spotter car!"
"Yes ma'am!" said Rock with mock chagrin as she led him out of the room.
Barrel laughed. "Those two are cute," he said.
Rock sat in the Spotter's car, wearing shorts and a T-shirt while Roll and Dan busied themselves with his armor. "I'm sure glad everyone was evacuated to the plains," he said. "Did you see the damage that robot did?"
"Yeah," said Roll. "I'm sure glad you fared better!"
"Aw, c'mon!" said Dan. "This kid's stronger than a bunch of pirates!"
Rock looked at a particularly nasty scrape on the back of the armor. "A little from column A, a little from column B."
Roll snorted. "Well, at least it isn't as bad as it could be," she said.
"Give us maybe an hour and this'll be as good as new," said Dan. "Maybe we should work on figuring out how to get this armor to take more hits?"
"Maybe I should work on not getting hit in the first place," said Rock. "Reaverbots with no brains are one thing, but if these guys show up again ..."
"Right," said Roll. "Don't overtax yourself, Rock."
Rock chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll be careful."
"Now, about that treasure," said Barrell. "I still haven't found much on it."
"I suspected as much," said Amelia. "I'm glad you're helping us out. I just wish we knew whether the legends about the disaster are true."
"Right," said Barrell. "It could be just a myth, but still, you don't really want to count on stuff like that being false."
"Exactly," said Amelia. "Once I convince the library to reopen, you'll have full access to it."
"Thanks," said Barrel. "If I find anything, one way or the other, I promise you'll be the first to know. After Rock, anyway, if I run into him first."
"As I said, I appreciate your help," said Amelia. "And I'll understand if there's a --"
The inspector walked in. "Excuse me, Your Honor," he said. "We have a new problem."
"The pirates are digging up the northern forest!?" exclaimed Rock (who was now back in his armor).
"They weren't able to get the key," reasoned Amelia, "so they must be going after the treasure directly."
She had sent an officer to get Rock and Roll over to City Hall. The car was now fixed up, so Roll had driven them, and they were now in the mayor's office.
"I'm amazed they'd go to that much trouble," said Barrell. "Even if they are criminals, you've got to admire their persistence!"
"Yeah, that or gape at their audacity," said Dan. "I mean, they're already up and running again, and Superboy here just singlehandedly stopped one of their attacks an hour ago!" Rock blushed at this.
"Well, it could be that they were planning on this kind of thing anyway," said Roll.
"Who knows what will happen if they get their hands on the treasure," murmured Amelia. "Inspector, I want you to arrest them immediately!"
"Um, I think what will happen is they'll sell it for lots of money," said Dan.
They explained about the disaster.
"Oh," said Dan. "Well then I guess you'd better stop them."
"Right," said the inspector with a chuckle.
As they left the building, Rock, Dan, and Roll saw several police cars driving off. "There goes the Inspector and his men, off to get the pirates," said Roll.
"I wonder if they'll be all right..." muttered Dan.
"Hmmmm," said Rock. "If they're using weapons like they did before, they might have some trouble... Not to mention..."
"...not to mention that the pirates are likely to steal everything if they get there first!" finished Roll.
"I think I'd better go help them," said Rock.
"Oughta be no problem for you, but it's a good thing I managed to give your armor that 'flak jacket'," said Dan, referring to an extra protective measure he and Roll had added.
"Be careful, Rock!" said Roll.
"Right!" said Rock. "See you later."
Several tanks bearing the same emblem as the Draches stood just beyond the entrance to the Clozer Woods. "Leopordo Tanks, report in!" said the Servbot in command of one of them. "You doin' okay, #37?"
"Doin' just fine, 21!" said #37's voice over the radio.
"Howabout you, 16?" said #21.
"That last police officer hit me once or twice, but I'm still 85% okay!" said #16.
"Howabout you, #40?" said #21.
"Rarin' to-go!" said #40.
"We've got company!" said the voice of #16 from another tank. "He doesn't look like a police officer ..."
#21 saw him. "Hey, it's that blue boy from before!" he exclaimed.
"We ain't gonna lose this time!" growled #40. "I give him ten minutes."
Teisel growled in frustration. "What gives!?" he exclaimed. "I dig and I dig, but I'm still nowhere near the bottom!" He sighed. "Maybe we will need that key after all..." He then noticed a group of scorched-looking Servbots. "Uh-oh."
"Master Teisel! We were beaten!" whimpered #21.
"...in five minutes!" added #40. "That blue boy is heading this way!"
"He's coming?" exclaimed Teisel. "All right, everyone, quit digging! Our priority now is to get rid of our little blue friend, all right!? Be careful and don't be fooled by his size--he's already beaten Bon and Tron! Let's do it!"
"Roger!" exclaimed the Servbots.
Rock arrived on the scene and saw a very large yellow robot. It had clawed arms and what he assumed was the Bonnes' emblem, and it ran around the enormous hole it was in on caterpillar treads. In the middle of the hole was the entrance to the ruins, held up to what had once been ground level by a column of earth. "Oh boy," he muttered. "Well, I guess I'll have to fight it." He jumped down into the hole.
"So, you've come to face me, the glorious Teisel Bonne, leader of the pirates!" roared Teisel over a loudspeaker. "Well, forget it! My Marlwolf mech has the latest in plasma-shielding armor! Your little pea shooter won't even scratch my paint job!"
Rock experimented a bit; his Buster had no effect on the armor.
"See?" said Teisel. "My turn."
The Marlwolf charged forward. Rock tried to dodge, but was knocked backwards. He got up and raced to the side to avoid getting hit again ... and then a series of bombs were launched from inside the machine. Rock had to run as fast as he could to avoid getting hit.
"I told you it was no use!" sneered Teisel. "Give it up!"
Rock noticed that its treads weren't armored, so he fired at them, knocking part of a segment. He realized that if he disabled them, the Marlwolf wouldn't be able to run him over. He jumped over to the column supporting the entrance to the ruins to avoid another charge, and started blasting away at the treads.
"Hey, are you paying attention?" yelled Teisel. He didn't sound as smug anymore. "You're not gonna get through this robot's armor!"
Rock took of the baldric with the splash mines and activated them all. He then ran right into the Marlwolf's path, dropped the baldric, and broke into a dead run. Teisel took the bait and charged towards him. Rock heard one of the Servbots exclaim, "No, wait!" before there was a massive series of explosions ... and the Marlwolf ran right off its treads.
"Why that little..." muttered Teisel, completely failing to move the Marlwolf at any great speed. "What does he think he's doing!?"
Rock jumped up a path to the ledge, where he was now level with the Marlwolf's cockpit. The hatch opened, and a Servbot hopped out with a bomb and threw it at Rock, who easily dodged it and fired at the open hatch.
Teisel dodged the plasma shots, which damaged some of the control panels. "What do you think you're doing!?" he snapped at the Servbot. "Hurry up and close the hatch!" The Servbot obeyed, and Teisel pushed a switch that raised the Marlwolf's arms, then activated the plasma digging claws. "Hmm, that's no good," he said, and swung the arms towards Rock as best he could.
A huge sphere of plasma was thrown at the blue boy, who barely managed to avoid getting melted. "Now that was cool," said Teisel. "Let's try it again ... after another barrage of bombs."
They launched another series of bombs, but Rock managed to destroy each of them even before they hit the ground. Teisel muttered some curses, and then got hit in the back by a plasma shot. "Ack!" he exclaimed. "I thought I told you to close the hatch!" Why did this Servbot think that getting out and lobbing bombs was a good idea?? Teisel turned back to the controls, and then noticed that his order had not been obeyed. "I SAID, CLOSE the HATCH!" he screamed, turning to the entrance.
"Hi," said Rock, tossing the bomb and the Servbot back in.
Teisel had just enough time for a stream of invective to enter his head before it went off. The wires below the floor caught on fire.
"AUUGH!" yelled Teisel. "What are you standing around for!? Put out the fire!!"
"The automated fire extingushiers aren't working!!" yelped the Servbot. "The coolant's leaking and the power core is overloading!"
"What!?" exclaimed Teisel. "But -- but -- but -- How could I have been defeated by that little, blue-armored son-of-a--"
The Marlwolf's armor was designed to resist against plasma, but this did not take into account a massive explosion from inside. When Teisel landed, he could only sit gaping at the smoking crater that had once been the Marlwolf. "How much does he think it costs to build that in the first place?" he mumbled. "I'll get him if it's the last thing I ever do...I mean..."
An elevator pad landed next to him. "Master Teisel!" exclaimed one of the Servbots. "Are you all right??" He pulled Teisel onto the pad, which started to lift up.
Teisel regained his composure. "Just you wait!!" he called down. "Oh, you're mine, blue boy -- I'll get you!"
Rock scratched his head. "Time to go home," he said to himself.
The radio in Rock's armor crackled to life. "Rock! Can you hear me?" said Roll. "The mayor says there's something real important she has to talk with you about ... Can you come back here?"
"Roger," said Rock. "I'll head back to City Hall."