Chapter Four - Between Fire and Ice
"WHY won't you let me in to see him?" Erika demanded as she tried for the fifth time to bull her way into Ikki's room.
"Your friend is still recovering," The harassed-looking nurse replied, "He hasn't even woken up yet."
"Then let us see Metabee instead!"
The Nurse looked even more harassed, "Professor Darien is still working on him, I'm afraid you will just have to wait. There really is no need to worry, your friends are in the very best of hands." Then she simply turned and walked off down the corridor, leaving Erika fuming in her wake.
The young reporter almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand clamp on her shoulder.
"She is right, there isn't anything you can do for your friend right now. Let the doctors do their jobs. Ikki and Metabee are in the best of hands." Erika glared up at Space Medafighter X's impassive gold face mask, feeling the sudden urge to rip of the concealing face plate so she could see into his eyes.
"Fine!" Erika yelled, stomping back to her seat, her face looking as dark as a thundercloud. She locked eyes on Space Medafighter X, deciding to make him the target of her peevishness, "Why are you still here, anyway? You've usually gone and done your vanishing act by now."
The Champion Medafighter shrugged nonchalantly,
"I didn't have anything better to do."
"I hate to say this, but he's right. My Dad and the doctors will do everything they can for your friends." Jayce said from where she was lounging on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs.
"Your DAD??" Erika yelped.
"Sure, Professor Kenneth Darien. He works for the Medabot Federation. He's fixing Metabee up as we speak."
Erika sighed heavily.
"Then I guess all we can do is wait."
---
Consciousness came back to Metabee in degrees as he slowly came back online, checking all his Medaparts as he did so. The pain was gone, and his optics worked as perfectly as ever. But still, he felt a vague sense of unease as he looked up into an unfamiliar face. It was a man who appeared to be in his late forties. He had dark, thinning hair, a moustache and compelling brown eyes that were hidden behind a pair of spectacles. He was also wearing a Medabot Federation badge that announced his identity as Professor Kenneth Darien.
"Welcome back." The Professor said gently in an English-accented voice.
Metabee just glared at him, right now he didn't care that this man had probably repaired him.
"Where's Ikki? And who are you?" Metabee demanded, his green optics glowing brightly with suppressed anger.
"I'm Professor Darien, and your Medafighter is fine, he's recovering in another wing of this hospital." Professor Darien reassured him.
"I wanna see him." Metabee said, starting forward, but Darien held him back.
"And you can, but first there are some things I need to tell you about..."
"Like who those goon were that attacked us?"
Darien took off his glasses and began to clean the lenses on his lab coat.
"All right, if that's where you want to start.
"The people who captured you and young Ikki are from a group known as 'The Spiral'. They're a group who believe that they should be the ones in charge of Medabots. All of them are people who were once kicked out of the Medabot Federation for improper conduct. Their leader, a man called William Edgars, is actually the one responsible for inventing the fusion cannon." Darien paused briefly, a worried frown crossing his face, "His name has also been linked with the Weapon-type Medabot project."
"Say WHAT?!"
"They've even created their own brand of Medabots, known as 'Deltabots'. The Deltabots have illegal and dangerous weapons. All they want is power and control."
"Man..." Medabee whispered.
"My theory is that The Spiral are trying to destroy the Medabot Federation from within, by trying to use a Medabot and Medafighter to create chaos at the Tournament." Darien's eyes became deadly serious, and Metabee felt a sudden suspicious lurch in his circuits. "Metabee, the Spiral captured you to implant a device near your CPU unit in your head part, very close to the subspace modem that connects you to your Medawatch."
"What kind of device?"
"A control chip."
"They were trying to CONTROL me?" Metabee exclaimed his optics burning bright green with anger, "That's it...next time I see those punks, they better get ready for a Metabee-boppin'!"
"Easy Metabee, there's more," The Professor said, replacing his glasses over his eyes, "They also put a similar implant in Ikki's brain."
"WHAT??"
Darien somehow managed to look sad and harassed at the same time.
"The chips in your and Ikki's brains are very similar, while you two were escaping from the Spiral, those chips were trying to activate...but instead of finding a control signal...all they could find was signals from they other chip. Somehow, the two cross-connected."
"You wanna spare me the technobabble, Professor?"
Darien sighed, "Basically, it connected you and Ikki together. He can now feel the circuit impulses that function as pain signals for you...and you can feel the nerve impulses caused by Ikki being in pain. It might go even deeper, but right now, we just can't be sure. That's something you and Ikki have to discover by yourselves."
Metabee just stared at him. For once, words failed the talkative Medabot. None of his usual smart-ass comments seemed appropriate right now. His brain was flooded with questions about what this would mean to them both...but only one question managed to escape his vocaliser.
"Can...can I see Ikki?"
---
Ikki's head throbbed unpleasantly as he slowly surfaced from the deep pool of unconsciousness. He cracked open his leaden eyelids, wincing at the stark whiteness of the room he was in.
He also discovered that his back hurt at least at much as his head, and there was also a curious itching sensation coming from the back of his neck, he thought about trying to scratch it, but even the thought of the effort that would take made him feel queasy.
The door opened, and Ikki felt a confused welter of emotion well up inside him as he saw Metabee walk in.
Metabee's optics were glowing softly, and something about the KBT-type's posture spoke of his confusion. Ikki tried to sit up, but a sudden wave of intense nausea forced him back down onto the pillows.
"Ohhhh..." He moaned, sweat breaking out on his pale forehead.
"Ikki?" Metabee asked in concern.
"No." Ikki answered honestly, feeling dizziness washed over him, trying to drag him back into the warm abyss of unconsciousness. He fought it off stubbornly.
"Metabee...what happened?"
"We...we were kidnapped, Ikki."
"Kidnapped?!" Ikki exclaimed in shock, "By who?"
"These bad dudes called 'The Spiral'."
"The terrorist group...?" Ikki lapsed into silence for a moment, then; "You rescued me." Ikki stated softly.
"Yeah, that's right."
"I remember that...but what did they want with me?"
Metabee's hesitation was obvious, even in Ikki's current state.
"Metabee...?"
Metabee hung his head and began to explain everything. What the Spiral wanted, what they had done to them both. When Metabee had finished, his Medafighter's face was crumpled into an unrecognisable expression.
"I...I have a CHIP in my head?!"
"Yeah..."
"And it connects me to...to your PAIN?!"
Metabee scuffed his feet on the floor nervously.
Ikki's breathing quickened, his fists clenching around the bed railings so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Metabee backed off a step as he felt something fiery hot rush through his medal...a sensation that felt like...rage.
"GET OUT!!" Ikki screamed. Metabee blinked in surprise as the unexpected reaction.
"Ikki..."
"GET OUT! Get out of here! This is all your fault!"
"MY fault?! Now wait a minute..."
"It was your stupid idea for us to take a look around! YOU got us into this!"
"HEY, you think I WANT a direct line to your pain? No way! But we're in this together..."
"Not anymore!" Ikki yelled as the pain and irrational fury took a hold of his mind, "I can do this alone. I don't need your help!"
"Don't be so stubborn! I'm trying to help you!"
"Leave me alone, Metabee!" Ikki said, twisting around in his bed so his back was towards the Medabot.
"FINE!" Metabee yelled as he stomped towards to door, slamming it shut behind him.
But before his hand even let go of the doorknob, he felt a wave of grief and pain, and a simmering, irrational anger. Metabee almost collapsed with the intensity of it, his legs giving way underneath him.
There was someone speaking to him, yelling at him actually, but he couldn't focus on the voice, he was too lost in he icy cold emotions that kept pouring into him. Guilt pressed in on him now, adding to the wild cocktail of unfamiliar emotions. If Medabee could have wept then, he could have.
"Ikki..."
"What's wrong with him?" Erika cried from where she was knelt by Metabee's side.
Professor Darien shook his head, his eyes holding a deep worry. "I was afraid of this," The Professor said, "It looks like they've linked on a more than just physiological level."
"Linked?" Brass asked from her position on Metabee's other side, "What does that mean."
Darien scratched at his balding head, "We don't have any real way of knowing, really. This has never happened before to anyone." He sighed deeply, "I just hope their friendship can survive this."
"It can." Space Medafighter X said confidently, "They have a very strong bond already."
"Are you saying they have to STAY like this?" Erika demanded.
Darien looked down at where Metabee lay crumpled on the floor looking lifeless apart from the faint glow of his green optics.
"I've sent for Doctor Aki to see if he can offer any suggestions...but, yes Miss Erika, they may have to stay like this."
To Be Continued...
"WHY won't you let me in to see him?" Erika demanded as she tried for the fifth time to bull her way into Ikki's room.
"Your friend is still recovering," The harassed-looking nurse replied, "He hasn't even woken up yet."
"Then let us see Metabee instead!"
The Nurse looked even more harassed, "Professor Darien is still working on him, I'm afraid you will just have to wait. There really is no need to worry, your friends are in the very best of hands." Then she simply turned and walked off down the corridor, leaving Erika fuming in her wake.
The young reporter almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand clamp on her shoulder.
"She is right, there isn't anything you can do for your friend right now. Let the doctors do their jobs. Ikki and Metabee are in the best of hands." Erika glared up at Space Medafighter X's impassive gold face mask, feeling the sudden urge to rip of the concealing face plate so she could see into his eyes.
"Fine!" Erika yelled, stomping back to her seat, her face looking as dark as a thundercloud. She locked eyes on Space Medafighter X, deciding to make him the target of her peevishness, "Why are you still here, anyway? You've usually gone and done your vanishing act by now."
The Champion Medafighter shrugged nonchalantly,
"I didn't have anything better to do."
"I hate to say this, but he's right. My Dad and the doctors will do everything they can for your friends." Jayce said from where she was lounging on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs.
"Your DAD??" Erika yelped.
"Sure, Professor Kenneth Darien. He works for the Medabot Federation. He's fixing Metabee up as we speak."
Erika sighed heavily.
"Then I guess all we can do is wait."
---
Consciousness came back to Metabee in degrees as he slowly came back online, checking all his Medaparts as he did so. The pain was gone, and his optics worked as perfectly as ever. But still, he felt a vague sense of unease as he looked up into an unfamiliar face. It was a man who appeared to be in his late forties. He had dark, thinning hair, a moustache and compelling brown eyes that were hidden behind a pair of spectacles. He was also wearing a Medabot Federation badge that announced his identity as Professor Kenneth Darien.
"Welcome back." The Professor said gently in an English-accented voice.
Metabee just glared at him, right now he didn't care that this man had probably repaired him.
"Where's Ikki? And who are you?" Metabee demanded, his green optics glowing brightly with suppressed anger.
"I'm Professor Darien, and your Medafighter is fine, he's recovering in another wing of this hospital." Professor Darien reassured him.
"I wanna see him." Metabee said, starting forward, but Darien held him back.
"And you can, but first there are some things I need to tell you about..."
"Like who those goon were that attacked us?"
Darien took off his glasses and began to clean the lenses on his lab coat.
"All right, if that's where you want to start.
"The people who captured you and young Ikki are from a group known as 'The Spiral'. They're a group who believe that they should be the ones in charge of Medabots. All of them are people who were once kicked out of the Medabot Federation for improper conduct. Their leader, a man called William Edgars, is actually the one responsible for inventing the fusion cannon." Darien paused briefly, a worried frown crossing his face, "His name has also been linked with the Weapon-type Medabot project."
"Say WHAT?!"
"They've even created their own brand of Medabots, known as 'Deltabots'. The Deltabots have illegal and dangerous weapons. All they want is power and control."
"Man..." Medabee whispered.
"My theory is that The Spiral are trying to destroy the Medabot Federation from within, by trying to use a Medabot and Medafighter to create chaos at the Tournament." Darien's eyes became deadly serious, and Metabee felt a sudden suspicious lurch in his circuits. "Metabee, the Spiral captured you to implant a device near your CPU unit in your head part, very close to the subspace modem that connects you to your Medawatch."
"What kind of device?"
"A control chip."
"They were trying to CONTROL me?" Metabee exclaimed his optics burning bright green with anger, "That's it...next time I see those punks, they better get ready for a Metabee-boppin'!"
"Easy Metabee, there's more," The Professor said, replacing his glasses over his eyes, "They also put a similar implant in Ikki's brain."
"WHAT??"
Darien somehow managed to look sad and harassed at the same time.
"The chips in your and Ikki's brains are very similar, while you two were escaping from the Spiral, those chips were trying to activate...but instead of finding a control signal...all they could find was signals from they other chip. Somehow, the two cross-connected."
"You wanna spare me the technobabble, Professor?"
Darien sighed, "Basically, it connected you and Ikki together. He can now feel the circuit impulses that function as pain signals for you...and you can feel the nerve impulses caused by Ikki being in pain. It might go even deeper, but right now, we just can't be sure. That's something you and Ikki have to discover by yourselves."
Metabee just stared at him. For once, words failed the talkative Medabot. None of his usual smart-ass comments seemed appropriate right now. His brain was flooded with questions about what this would mean to them both...but only one question managed to escape his vocaliser.
"Can...can I see Ikki?"
---
Ikki's head throbbed unpleasantly as he slowly surfaced from the deep pool of unconsciousness. He cracked open his leaden eyelids, wincing at the stark whiteness of the room he was in.
He also discovered that his back hurt at least at much as his head, and there was also a curious itching sensation coming from the back of his neck, he thought about trying to scratch it, but even the thought of the effort that would take made him feel queasy.
The door opened, and Ikki felt a confused welter of emotion well up inside him as he saw Metabee walk in.
Metabee's optics were glowing softly, and something about the KBT-type's posture spoke of his confusion. Ikki tried to sit up, but a sudden wave of intense nausea forced him back down onto the pillows.
"Ohhhh..." He moaned, sweat breaking out on his pale forehead.
"Ikki?" Metabee asked in concern.
"No." Ikki answered honestly, feeling dizziness washed over him, trying to drag him back into the warm abyss of unconsciousness. He fought it off stubbornly.
"Metabee...what happened?"
"We...we were kidnapped, Ikki."
"Kidnapped?!" Ikki exclaimed in shock, "By who?"
"These bad dudes called 'The Spiral'."
"The terrorist group...?" Ikki lapsed into silence for a moment, then; "You rescued me." Ikki stated softly.
"Yeah, that's right."
"I remember that...but what did they want with me?"
Metabee's hesitation was obvious, even in Ikki's current state.
"Metabee...?"
Metabee hung his head and began to explain everything. What the Spiral wanted, what they had done to them both. When Metabee had finished, his Medafighter's face was crumpled into an unrecognisable expression.
"I...I have a CHIP in my head?!"
"Yeah..."
"And it connects me to...to your PAIN?!"
Metabee scuffed his feet on the floor nervously.
Ikki's breathing quickened, his fists clenching around the bed railings so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Metabee backed off a step as he felt something fiery hot rush through his medal...a sensation that felt like...rage.
"GET OUT!!" Ikki screamed. Metabee blinked in surprise as the unexpected reaction.
"Ikki..."
"GET OUT! Get out of here! This is all your fault!"
"MY fault?! Now wait a minute..."
"It was your stupid idea for us to take a look around! YOU got us into this!"
"HEY, you think I WANT a direct line to your pain? No way! But we're in this together..."
"Not anymore!" Ikki yelled as the pain and irrational fury took a hold of his mind, "I can do this alone. I don't need your help!"
"Don't be so stubborn! I'm trying to help you!"
"Leave me alone, Metabee!" Ikki said, twisting around in his bed so his back was towards the Medabot.
"FINE!" Metabee yelled as he stomped towards to door, slamming it shut behind him.
But before his hand even let go of the doorknob, he felt a wave of grief and pain, and a simmering, irrational anger. Metabee almost collapsed with the intensity of it, his legs giving way underneath him.
There was someone speaking to him, yelling at him actually, but he couldn't focus on the voice, he was too lost in he icy cold emotions that kept pouring into him. Guilt pressed in on him now, adding to the wild cocktail of unfamiliar emotions. If Medabee could have wept then, he could have.
"Ikki..."
"What's wrong with him?" Erika cried from where she was knelt by Metabee's side.
Professor Darien shook his head, his eyes holding a deep worry. "I was afraid of this," The Professor said, "It looks like they've linked on a more than just physiological level."
"Linked?" Brass asked from her position on Metabee's other side, "What does that mean."
Darien scratched at his balding head, "We don't have any real way of knowing, really. This has never happened before to anyone." He sighed deeply, "I just hope their friendship can survive this."
"It can." Space Medafighter X said confidently, "They have a very strong bond already."
"Are you saying they have to STAY like this?" Erika demanded.
Darien looked down at where Metabee lay crumpled on the floor looking lifeless apart from the faint glow of his green optics.
"I've sent for Doctor Aki to see if he can offer any suggestions...but, yes Miss Erika, they may have to stay like this."
To Be Continued...