Medabots: Open Ring
Chapter II : Downplay
=====
"Euphemisms are half-truths.
You may spare the pain from the recipient, but you may also be leaving
the way open for an even greater pain."
- Verse V of XII
=====
"Yes?"
The secretary looked up from her papers with a hint of annoyance as two uniformed men walked into the office. In their wake followed a 15-year-old boy, who nervously clutched his travel bag.
"We'd like to register this boy into your institution's records. As of now, he is officially orphaned."
The secretary nodded briefly and typed a few commands into the keyboard terminal on her desk. Turning to the two men, she spoke again. "Name?"
One of the men turned to the 15-year-old. "Boy, what's your name?" The teenager merely held up his school ID card. Turning back to the secretary with a hint of embarrassment, the man answered the secretary's question. "His name is Shingawa Kaito."
"I see... Age?"
"15."
"Blood type?"
"O-positive."
"Eye color?"
The other man stared at Kaito for a few minutes. "Dark-brown."
The secretary finished typing, and handed Kaito a small slip of paper and activated the intercom. "Matoko, please proceed at once to the reception office. A new acquisition is awaiting your services."
Bowing to the two men, the secretary nodded them to the door. "That is all, gentlemen. You are no longer needed."
"Understood." Reaching into his coat pocket, one of the men pulled out a cell phone. "Drop-off completed. Orphan No. 34-22113 registered at Moonshadow Hills Orphanage. Awaiting instructions." After nodding for a few minutes in affirmation of whatever was being said on the other end of the line, the man replaced his cell phone and walked out of the office, followed by his colleague.
Kaito Shingawa stood in the office,
staring after the two, still clutching his travel bag in a state of nervous
detachment.
=====
"Hurry up, Kasumi!!"
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying..."
Kasumi was trying to follow Hiyori the best he could, considering the fact that he was carrying both his and Hiyori's book bag. Granbeetle and Blazer-Multi, Hiyori's school-girlish BLZ-type medabot, were following Kasumi.
The two childhood friends and classmates were walking towards the local medabot battle arena, a two-story structure designed for the sole purpose of friendly robattles between friends, potential rivals, and for certain public events.
Siden, Fubuki, Mizore, and Goutetsu had already agreed to meet them there an hour ago with their respective medabots. Kasumi, who was habitually punctual, was having a hard time coming to terms with being late for their meeting.
Hiyori, on the other hand, didn't have much qualms about being late for something unless it was something that captured her interest. Kasumi sighed as he remembered when he first met Hiyori back at secondary school, who had always been difficult to work with. Kasumi had noticed that she always acted somewhat... differently around him. Was it because she... LIKED him? Kasumi shook his head.
Can't be... I'm just a bookworm nerd of a kid... Maybe just as friends, but that's it...
"Hey, Kasumi, what are you thinking about?" Hiyori was looking at him closely.
"W-wha? A-absolutely nothing!!" Kasumi stammered for a suitable reply.
Hiyori shook her head and wagged her index finger at him. "Don't say that. I know you like an open book, Kasumi. Whenever you've got that melancholy look on your face, you're thinking about something..."
"A-absolutely impossible!" shot back Kasumi. "What makes you think that?!"
Hiyori then smiled. "So predictable, Kasumi. So predictable." Walking forward, she took Kasumi's glasses off his face, and, without warning, kissed him on the cheek. Kasumi turned redder than a tomato.
"Gwaaah!!" Kasumi shrieked.
"SCORRE!!" Granbeetle yelled.
Blazer-Multi didn't say anything at all, and merely stared at the pair with all the silence of an abandoned grandstand.
Hiyori stepped back from Kasumi, who was still blushing furiously, and smiled again. "I've waited for a long time to do that..."
"W-wha-!? What do you mean by..."
Hiyori shook her head again.
"You'll find out someday, Kasumi, when you're not so thick-skulled anymore..."
Taking her book bag off of Kasumi's shoulders, she took his hand, which
only served to make him blush even more, and pulled him towards the direction
of the arena.
=====
Erika wiped the sweat from her forehead and exhaled, nodding in satisfaction at the array of pock-marked targets that were lying on the ground before her. "Good job, Brass. With some more practice, I think we'll be ready!"
"You think so, Miss Erika?"
"I'm quite sure!" Erika nodded.
Ikki, who was standing a short distance away, grinned in approval. "Hey, not bad a job. I think you're almost tournament material this year!"
Metabee merely shrugged. "I dunno, Ik-ster. Who knows, just because they can hit a bunch of targets doesn't mean that they can win at this year's tournament. There's still a tough crowd out there, and I don't think Brass can take them ALL on with only a Short-shot cannon and a submachine-gun."
"So we're going to have to lend her some parts, that's all," muttered Ikki. "Of course, don't get me wrong; I AM worried, Metabee. If Kasumi and the others from that Uptown private school show up at this year's tourney..."
"Then we're in big trouble. They beat us at CLUSTER-001, remember?"
"I know, I know... We both got our backsides handed to us there. If there was only some way to beat Kaiserbeetle..." The two fell silent as they remembered the fierce, almost-demonic red KBT-type medabot they had encountered, which had utterly creamed them both back at CLUSTER. What bothered Ikki and Metabee wasn't the weapons it carried, although they weren't anything to laugh at. The problem was with the Medaforce abilities it carried...
The power to literally destroy an opponent's medabot in a single blast...
Ikki and Metabee shook their heads. Ikki sighed. "We'll never be able to enter the competition with this attitude. We've got to learn from our mistakes, and fix 'em. Just because we lost a match doesn't necessarily mean that we'll lose again..."
Metabee nodded. "You're right. I th-"
"Hey, you guys, are you going to stand around like that all day!?" Erika glared at the two, and impatiently tapped her left foot on the ground. "Brass and I need to get more training done! Bring us something tougher to practice on!!"
Ikki shook his head and grinned again. "If Erika's going to be like this at the tournament, we're going to have a tough time on our hands." He turned to Metabee. "Want to go for a little friendly practice robattle?"
Metabee's look brightened. "Why not? Let's go!"
The two ran forward to join their
fellows, laughing with glee.
=====
Kaito Shingawa never knew exactly what he was doing anymore. The constant daily routines in the orphanage, combined with the mind-numbing morning roll-calls, were slowly sapping his grasp on reality.
He shook his head and exhaled slowly. It had been three weeks since he had entered the orphanage, and there was no end in sight.
Why... Why did I sneak off like that? I... I left them to die...
Kaito stared out the window, the autumn leaves falling to the ground and making scratching noises across the cement. He missed Nitane. He missed Tarou, even though he had only known him for so short a time. He missed his school, and he... he especially missed his parents.
I'm such a stupid, impulsive failure...
Kaito sighed again and sat against the couch he had been leaning on. Life in the orphanage wasn't totally unpleasant, and most of the staff there were rather friendly. The problem was the atmosphere. Almost every other resident of the orphanage had a reticent look of melancholy, of... of... of hopelessness. Kaito almost felt ready to start tossing the cushions on the sofa out the window and start screaming in the face of the growing despair he himself was feeling.
I should have just-
"Shingawa Kaito?" Kaito looked up at the mention of his name. Standing near the doorway of the sitting room was the north wing's housekeeper, holding a package of sorts. She smiled, and looked at him. "Are you Shingawa Kaito? This is for you."
Kaito nodded, and reached out to accept the package. "Arigatou gozaimasu."
The housekeeper gave a sympathetic glance in his direction, and then walked out.
Kaito studied the package. It was worn, beaten, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a tough hempen string. Stamped onto the paper were numerous labels of some legal origin, and the logo of some office of an attorney-at-law.
The recipient was clearly indicated as Kaito, although the original address, he noted, was crossed out and replaced with that of the orphanage.
Taking a slow breath and setting the package down onto the battered coffee table, he undid the coarse string and slowly unwrapped the package. The only things inside were several paper documents, a sealed envelope, and a card of indeterminable origin.
Picking up the first paper in
the bundle, he laid the rest aside and began to read...
| LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
It is hereby declared, and made official, with the sole result that all previous wills and deeds are to be rendered void, that this is the latest and last will and testament of the Shingawa family. The last sole survivor or the oldest of kin to the Shingawa family, is declared to be the recipient and will be given possession of all attached documents, information, and titles of ownership to all indicated material. Should the recipient be rendered null or otherwise unable to recieve this package, such as in the case of death, the property will be passed to various charities and hereby indicated owners. |
Kaito snorted in contempt and
set it down. The legal procedures that were affixed to the document
simply wanted to make him puke. Setting it back into the box, he
then pulled out the second piece of paper, convinced that it was another
paper concerning itself with monotonous legal issues. This one, however,
made him freeze.
| Dear Kaito,
If you are reading this letter, then you should know that we are truly gone. Before you overly grieve over our demise, we wish to share with you a secret that your uncle held. Your uncle had always observed on his occasional visits that you were quite interested in medabots. Although we had always maintained that you would perhaps move on to other interests once you had grown up, it appears that, as of this date when we wrote this letter, you maintained your interest in medabots and every topic associated with such. Your uncle noticed your enthusiasm, and wanted to help you in getting a medabot of your own. However, before he was able to fully carry out his wishes in order to allow you to realize your dreams of becoming a medafighter, he was killed in his office... They found him slumped over his antique desk, the hilt of a pocketknife sticking out of his back two months before. His will had indicated that you were to receive "something", which he wanted you to discover on your own. Thus, in respect with his wishes, we refrained from telling you about his death until we felt that you were mature enough to discover what he had kept for you on your own. It now seems that we have little choice in this situation but to give you what your uncle wanted you to have. With greatest affection,
|
Kaito set the letter down with trembling hands, and carefully turned his attention to the sealed envelope. The envelope smelled faintly of library paste, and was browned at the edges, as if had been scorched from some sort of conflagration. Tearing the edge of the envelope, Kaito shook the contents out of its paper sheath.
A single, plastic key-card fell onto the coffee table with a muted 'tap'. Picking up the key-card, Kaito noticed that there was an address and a P.I. number printed and taped to one side. Kaito muttered the missive on the key-card out loud.
"HEX Corp... Never heard of it before..." Kaito stared at the key-card, then stared at the open window. A brief, questioning glance flashed in his eyes, and then disappeared. He knew that there was no question as to what to do. This orphanage was not the place for him.
His inheritance was waiting.
=====
Samantha grumbled as she stood waiting. Sloan merely stood with an impassive stare. Spyke... Well, he was the object of Samantha's impatience.
Samantha had called a meeting of the Screws about three hours earlier, and had then spent two of those three hours waiting solely for Spyke to arrive with Crosserdog. Peppercat and Totalizer had similar looks of impatience on their faces.
Finally, Spyke and Crosserdog put in their appearance, dashing around the corner at top speed. "Sorry boss, my teacher had kept me after school because of an overdue book rep-"
Samantha had put up with enough. "You're always making excuses, Spyke! You're a motivational loser! Even with Crosserdog, you're still a loser! Maybe not as badly as with Cyandog, but still, you're a bad medafighter..."
Spyke winced at Samantha's remarks. "B-but boss, we really di-"
"You really what?! Really procrastinated?! You're just like your medabot's typeset! You're a cowering, wimpy little pooch of a dog! You've only won two robattles out of the history of this gang! Unless you start to pull up your rankings in this gang soon, you're down the drain, got it!?"
"You mean, I'm going to have to clean your sink?"
"No, you moron! It means that you're going to be kicked out of the gang!!"
"S-sorry, boss..."
"Yeah, you boys are always sorry. Sorry for this, sorry for that... Well, instead of saying sorry all the time, try winning and getting your self-esteem up for a change!!"
Spyke was crestfallen as he and Crosserdog promptly 'turned tail', so to speak, and walked away. Peppercat looked at the two with a measure of concern etched onto her visual sensors, and turned to her medafighter.
"Boss, do you really think that it's advisable to do that to them? Sure, they're slow, dim-witted, and quite a pair of losers, but do they deserve all that?"
Samantha sadly shook her head. "I don't know, Peppercat. I know that, at the very least, he's enthusiastic and always supportive, but he never seems to be able to get the job done. I just don't know, Peppercat. I just don't know..."
Sloan looked at Totalizer for
a moment. Simultaneously shrugging, they simply stared off into the
distance with all the stolidity of driftwood on a beach.
=====
Spyke and Crosserdog slowly trudged through the streets of Rosewood, glumly staring at the passing traffic and the clouds above. Spyke was the first to break the silence. "It looks bad, Crosserdog."
"Yes, boss. What are we going to do?"
"I dunno... Are we doomed to being failures? I don't think there's any openings in the circus sideshow available, and we wouldn't even be able to entertain a crowd..."
"Something cookin' on the brain, guys?" The two spun around to notice Metabee and Ikki standing behind them, regarding them with a narrow look. Metabee continued. "You two look like kicked dogs..."
"Metabee!" muttered Ikki fiercely. Metabee nodded in understanding.
"Whoops, forgot... Sorry, you guys."
"That's okay," mumbled Spyke. "We're used to being put down."
"I overheard what Samantha was saying to you two," put in Ikki. "I think she's right. Why ARE you guys letting everything and everybody walk all over you? Your team is perfectly sound, and Crosserdog isn't plagued with the problems Cyandog had. Why are you guys still always losing?"
Spyke shrugged. "I really don't know."
Ikki thought hard for a moment, then his face lit up. "Say, guys, I'm currently helping Erika train for the World Robattle Cup. How about training with us? It just might help you guys..."
"...Be less pathetic at losing," smirked Metabee.
Ikki merely glared at Metabee for his lack of tactfulness. "As I was saying, it might help you guys improve in your robattle skills, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to try for the tourneys."
Spyke and Crosserdog looked at eachother for a moment, then both nodded their assent. "Why not? It might help us get back our respect in the gang... Okay, Ikki, lead the way."
Ikki and Metabee grinned at eachother,
and then promptly proceeded to pull the pair of losers in the direction
of Riverview High.
=====
As Kasumi, Hiyori and their medabots approached the local medabot battle arena, the first thing that caught their attention was a large plume of smoke issuing from the two-story building, as well as the sound of battle.
"Something's wrong," muttered Kasumi.
Picking up their pace, the four ran the rest of the way to the arena, fearing the worst.
The sight that met their eyes made them stop. Although the surrounding buildings were untouched, the entire front section of the arena building had been blown away, leaving a gigantic crater of rubble and smouldering wreckage in its place.
For a fleeting moment, Kasumi felt a twinge of fear that his friends had been caught in the conflagration... Until he saw a quartet of familiar faces that made him sigh with relief.
Siden, Fubuki, Mizore and Goutetsu all trudged out of the wreckage, grimy and covered in ashes. Siden managed a wry grin as he walked up to Kasumi. "What took you guys so long?"
Kasumi shrugged. "Had some things to do. What happened here?"
Fubuki, a thin, brown-haired girl who sported a green beret and sunglasses spoke up as her LDB-type medabot Tolemi managed to walk to her side. "A rogue medabot came in and utterly trashed the place. We tried to stop it, but it moved too fast. Nearly took out Mizore's and Goutetsu's medabots."
As if affirming his statement, Sikkuru, Mizore's blue CPM-type spider-like medabot, and Bagstein, Goutetsu's tank-like STN-type medabot, both stumbled out of the wreckage and collapsed onto the pavement. Ashton, Siden's GWF-type medabot, similarly limped out of the wreckage and heavily sat next to Siden.
Kasumi looked up at the wreckage behind them. "So where is this medabot now?"
Goutetsu, who was a heavyset boy wearing a teal warmup suit, grunted as he indicated the building. "It's still inside the arena. We barely got out ourselves."
Mizore, a purple-haired boy who wore his school uniform somewhat sloppily, nodded in concurrence.
Kasumi grimaced as he looked back at the building. "Anybody else inside?"
"There's several other fellows from our class who are still inside," muttered Siden. "They've got some Select Corp. men in there trying to root it out, but seeing as how we got our butts kicked there, I doubt they'll do much better."
Almost as if in answer, an explosion issued from the side of the arena building as several members of the Select Corp. and their medabots came flying through the wall. The force of the shockwave sent everyone else around the building stumbling to the ground. The sight that greeted their eyes as the smoke cleared made Kasumi and Hiyori start back in surprise.
A massive, blue-colored Medabot with swept-back horns stood before them, its red eyes gleaming as it stood before the group, powerful melee weapons at the ready.
Kasumi stumbled to his feet and narrowly regarded the medabot. "It's a KWG-type... Where did it come from?"
Siden helped Ashton up, his eyes narrowing as he spoke. "It's Luminoustag... an Stag-beetle experimental medabot that Robattle-Research was working on before they got shut down due to the CLUSTER debacle."
Kasumi stood before the huge medabot cautiously as he spoke. "Well, it's certainly powerful... Granbeetle, you ready?"
"Am I ever!" yelled the KBT-type excitedly. "Let's go!" Granbeetle got to his feet and charged to attack mode.
The blue-colored medabot named by Siden as Luminoustag seemed to regard the smaller KBT-type with an expression of contempt before revealing a huge, two-edged gold-plated swordblade.
Granbeetle gulped. "This is going to be hard... Blazer-Multi, give me some backup, 'kay?"
Hiyori's BLZ-type medabot nodded and got to her feet. "Acknowledged. Miss Hiyori, are we ready?"
Hiyori nodded and reached for her medawatch. "Ready, Blazer-Multi. Let's give it everything!"
"Okay!" yelled Kasumi. "Granbeetle, set for attack mode! Revolver!"
"Gotcha!" yelled Granbeetle.
Granbeetle leaped into the air as it pointed its single-barrelled revolver at the huge KWG-type, firing volley after volley of high-velocity AP shells.
Luminoustag, to the amazement of all, simply dodged every single bullet.
Siden cursed. "That's the hat trick it pulled on us. Hiyori, we need to get better aim on it!"
Hiyori nodded as she turned to Blazer-Multi. "Blazer! Variable-radar!"
Blazer-Maru nodded as she activated the radar set inside her head. Granbeetle, who was still cursing as he shot at the evading Luminoustag, finally drew a bead as he landed a hit on the KWG-type medabot's legs.
Luminoustag, however, simply seemed to shrug off the damage and suddenly lunged at Granbeetle, swiping at him with its swordblade and neatly cutting into his left leg. Granbeetle gave a sharp yell of pain as the KWG-type's melee weapon continued to tear through his armor plating.
Kasumi wiped the sweat from his brow and pressed a button on his medawatch. "Hang on, Granbeetle, I'm sending for reinforcements..."
"Wait!" yelled Siden. "Are you sure you can handle him? What if he goes berserk again!?"
Kasumi gave Siden a grim look. "That's a risk I'm going to have to take... Transport Kaiserbeetle!"
A sphere of intense blue light suddenly flashed upon the field as a new medabot made its appearance upon the battleground. A massive, red-colored KBT-type medabot, sporting huge gun barrels, slowly hovered to the ground.
Luminoustag suddenly paused in the mid-swing of his second attack as he regarded this new threat... And hesitated.
That was all Granbeetle needed as he launched a volley of explosive bullets from his head-mounted cannons. Catching Luminoustag full in the face, Granbeetle slipped out of Luminoustag's attack range and scrambled backwards.
Luminoustag staggered backwards from Granbeetle's unexpected attack, leaving itself open and temporarily blinded.
Kasumi spotted the momentary gap in the KWG-type medabot's defense, and took advantage of it. "Kaiserbeetle! Full power to all guns! Give it everything you've got!!"
The trio of Kaiserbeetle's gun barrels abruptly flashed and sparked as a hail of metal slugs buried themselves into the KWG-type medabot's armor.
Luminoustag gave an odd-sounding
cry of pain as it received the volley of bullets, and retreated, leaping
up the side of a nearby building. Landing on the roof, it turned,
and regarded the motley group of schoolkids and their medabots with a strange
glint in its red eyes. Then, it turned and leaped away, leaving the
field to the band of schoolkids.
=====
The darkness of evening found Kasumi and the rest of the group all walking back towards their homes.
"What I don't understand," said Hiyori, "is how that thing even got here." She turned to Siden. "Do you think that Robattle-Research had something to do with it?"
Siden shook his head. "Robattle-Research may use unconventional means to develop and test new medaparts and medabots, but they wouldn't let a prized fighter of a medabot like Luminoustag get out of their grasp." He looked up at the swaying trees, and sighed. "Something smells like fish."
Goutetsu sniffed. "That's funny, I don't smell fish."
Mizore elbowed him. "It's a figure of speech, doofus. He means that someone's up to no good."
Fubuki turned to Kasumi. "By the way, Kasumi, how is the training going for the World Robattle Cup? I noticed that Kaiserbeetle was more... controlled than last time I saw him."
"Oh, it's not much," mumbled Kasumi in an embarrassed tone. "Just making progress, that's all..."
"Mr. Kasumi?" A heavily cloaked figure suddenly stepped out of the shadows of a nearby alley.
"Uhm... yes, that's me."
"I have a message for you... Compliments of Robattle-Research." Without another word, the figure handed Kasumi a sealed envelope, stepped back into the darkness of the alley, and abruptly vanished from sight.
Kasumi regarded the alley for a long moment, then tore the envelope open, pulling out a letter written on crisp, white paper.
"What's it say?" asked Granbeetle.
Kasumi scanned the lines, and
his eyes widened in surprise, before turning grim. "It's...
It's... a message. Stating that more incidents like that at
the local robattle arena are guaranteed to come."
=====
"Was the message delivered successfully?"
"Yes, master. All has been done as asked. The target has received your letter." The same cloaked figure bowed in the darkness of an unidentified room, somewhere deep within the bowels of the sewers of the city.
"Excellent." The darkness briefly parted from a pair of dim lights, to reveal a concealed face, hooded and masked. "Soon, all of them will be in my trap, and there will be nothing standing in my way of gaining the secrets of Robattle-Research. Victory WILL be ours!"
The room was once again blanketed
in darkness, and all was quiet.
To Be Continued...