Medabots: Open Ring
Chapter III : Rise of the Helix
=====
"Decisions in life are not
always made freely. They are often made in duress of the consequences
that might follow."
- Ramblings of Nine
=====
Kaito grunted as he threw his duffelbag over the chain-link fence that surrounded the HEX Corp. office complex. The building was a two-story affair, built of whitewashed concrete and steel girders, and somewhat worn by the lack of maintenance and occupation. Heaving himself over the fence, and cutting past the razorwire with a pair of 'borrowed' pliers, Kaito landed on the ground with a thump and dusted off the seat of his pants.
It had been only three hours since he had snuck out of Moonshadow Hills orphanage, and he was exhausted from the run he had executed in order to evade any attempt at bringing him back. Dusting off his hands, he picked up his duffelbag and cautiously approached the office building. Coming up to what appeared to be a glass door leading to the reception hall, Kaito stared at the complicated electronic lock that was bolted to the door's frame. A card slot, a numeric keypad, and a series of lights presented themselves to Kaito's face, all blank and devoid of activity.
Kaito regarded the lock for a long moment, and then pulled out the cardkey which he had gotten from the package he'd received.
Quickly praying to whatever gods he revered, Kaito swiped the cardkey into the slot... And grinned in relief as one of the lights on the lock suddenly flashed green. A satisfying 'thwump' came from the lock, and the door unexpectedly swung open, as if inviting the young teenager in.
Kaito looked at his cardkey, and
then noticed a large map, which apparently displayed the office grounds.
One of the sectors appeared to match the coordinates hastily scrawled on
the cardkey's backing. Shrugging and deciding to give it all it was
worth, Kaito walked down a nearby flight of stairs.
=====
The coordinates indicated on the cardkey led to a large storage area of sorts, stacked with crates and shelves of indeterminate objects, including stacks of reports, datadiscs, and tools. A small computer terminal lay sitting in the dust on a nearby desk. What puzzled Kaito was the fact that the computer seemed to be on 'standby', as if waiting for some action to move its CPU back into full force.
Dusting off the cover of the computer, Kaito gingerly sat down on a worn rolling chair and fiddled with the terminal's keyboard.
The computer's monitor sprang to life, bleeping and suddenly displaying scrolling lines of data along the screen. The flow of data then stopped after a few moments, and a terse command flashed onto the monitor.
PLEASE INSERT ID CARD.
Kaito looked around the vicinity of the desk for the indicated card, and finding none, stared at his cardkey, which seemed to match the width of the slot indicated on the terminal's panel.
Hoping for the best, the youth quickly inserted the cardkey into the slot, and waited.
For a few moments, the computer
seemed to pause, as if considering the card that had been inserted into
it. Then, some more lines of text scrolled across the screen.
AUTHENTICATING ID....
ID AUTHENTICATED. ACCESSING CLASSIFIED RECORDS...
ACCESSING FILES FOR PROJECT HELIX...
DOORLOCK OPENED. ACCESS
GRANTED.
Then, without warning, the computer shut itself down. Kaito flipped the power switch a few times, then sighed in resignation.
"Probably has some sort of trigger-linked kill-circuit," he muttered out loud. His voiced thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, as the clicking of a lock echoed through the room. Turning around in alarm, he noticed that a large section of the paneling had slid aside, revealing a passageway that he hadn't seen when he'd first entered the area.
Warily getting up and making his way over to the passage, Kaito noticed that this tunnel seemed to be older than the rest of the building. Graffiti and scrawlmarks adorned the walls, and old pipes made for some indeterminable purpose hung limply from corroded scaffolding.
The tunnel dipped downwards, and Kaito had to walk slower in order to keep his footing.
The end of the passage presented itself to him in the form of another door... Huge, steel-reinforced, and multi-locked. Digging out the ever-ubiquitous cardkey, Kaito swiped it into a nearby card-slot without hesitation.
The door clicked, and then swung open with a heavy groan as the hinges broke through the film of rust that had accumulated over them.
The sight that greeted Kaito's
eyes took his breath away.
=====
A dimly lit hallway stretched forward past the door, ending with a mounting rig... Upon which rested a medabot. Curiosity getting the better of him, Kaito ran forward to inspect his discovery.
The medabot was unlike anything that was currently on the public consumer's market, and appeared to be in mint condition. Its gray-green armor gleamed in the dimmed light of the hall, and a large horn graced its forehead. Kaito gave a rap with his knuckles onto the medabot's armor plating, and nodded in approval. From what Tarou had told him, medapart plating was designed for either speed, or heavy defense. This one, by the dull ringing it made, appeared to be an excellent balance of both.
The left and right arms were formed into a series of formidable weaponry. The right arm consisted of a typical "gauntlet" weapons pod configuration shape, and had four gun-barrels attached to its wrist area. The left arm was formed into a very large cannon, and appeared to be an energy weapon of sorts, due to the shaping of its housing which indicated the presence of a micro-generator.
Continuing his scrutiny of the mounting rig that kept the inactive medabot standing, Kaito stood back in surprise as he noticed two more objects on the mounting rig.
A medawatch, apparently tailor-made for the medabot which stood nearby...
...And a medal.
Kaito cautiously picked up the medal, which appeared to be unlike any other medal he had seen in shops, or in robattles. The letter adorning the top of the medal was a 'Z', and the image engraved onto it appeared to be that of a young beetle larva.
He looked at the inactive medabot standing on the mounting rig. The horn on its head, as well as the picture of the beetle larva on the medal left no doubt in his mind that this medabot was modeled after the KBT-type, or Kabuto series.
The Kabuto series, or the Hercules-Beetle typeset, as they were more commonly known in the U.S, were designed primarily for shooting and ranged revolver-play tactics. Due to their excellent balance in firepower, agility, and armor, they were often used by top medafighters, and were also utilized as excellent ranged-support and leader positions in team battles.
Continuing his analysis of the medal, he flipped it over.
The back of the medal, strangely enough, had the image of a helix engraved onto it, which surprised him, since all medals that he had seen were blank on the back, without any ornamentation whatsoever.
The medal gleamed, and the inner 'eye' of the medal appeared to be almost... alive, glimmering with a strange green light. As Kaito regarded the three objects on the mounting rig, a train of thought started inside his mind.
Was this the thing that his uncle had wanted to give him?
Turning to the medawatch, Kaito picked up the device off its hook and looked at it closely. The watch had a swing-cover design, consisting of a tough composite of duraplasteel, a plastic and steel shell that was made for heavy use. Kaito looked at the inside of the cover and grinned. There was that same HEX Corp. logo on the outside, as well as another logo that consisted of two "R"s, one in front of the other, on the inside of the cover.
The youth looked at the medal and medawatch he clutched in his hands, and silently regarded them. Then, with a sudden motion, Kaito strapped the medawatch to his left wrist, and began opening the access panel on the back of the inactive KBT-model.
Kaito looked at the medabot on the mounting rig and hesitated for a moment. Some eerie feeling had suddenly swept over him, as if he were standing at the brink of a chasm, with only a few centimeters between him and the boundless pit that stood before him.
Then the hesitation vanished, and there was a 'clunking' sound as Kaito inserted the medal into its bracket.
For a moment, all was silent,
and Kaito wondered if the medal even worked. Then, the optical visor
of the KBT-type medabot on the mounting rig suddenly lit up with a mighty
thrum of activated servos and circuitry. At that same moment, the
display on Kaito's medawatch lit up, and several meters appeared on the
LCD panel.
MEDAL ACTIVE: HELIXBEETLE ONLINE
HEAD: HUNTER-RADAR:
100% - STATUS: NORMAL
R-ARM: TETRACANNON:
100% - STATUS: NORMAL
L-ARM: RAILGUN: 100%
- STATUS: NORMAL
LEGS: WARPSEEKER:
100% - STATUS: NORMAL
The medabot suddenly stretched its limbs, and knocked the mounting rig over. Kaito started in a bit of surprise as it spoke. "Damnit! That's been the longest nap I've ever taken... Hey, what gives?!" The KBT-model had swivelled its head as it noticed the young teenager standing beside it, the medawatch strapped to his wrist.
Kaito looked at it for a long moment, then stammered for a reply. "I-I'm your medafighter..."
Helixbeetle seemed to have a skeptical look on its face as Kaito spoke, and then made a reply. "Hey, now, listen, I don't know how you got your hands on my boss's medawatch, but it would BEHOOVE you if you could kindly take it off that dirty wrist of yours."
"Dirty!?" yelled Kaito. "I'll show you-"
Helixbeetle suddenly raised its left arm, pointing its huge railgun at Kaito's face. "Step back, buddy. You've got a lot of respect to learn. And take that medawatch off. My boss isn't gonna like you messin' with his stuff."
"Hey, who IS your boss, anyway?" asked Kaito with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
Helixbeetle didn't lower the railgun he was still pointing at Kaito, but grumbled a response. "My boss? His name's Shingawa Tensuo... Why the sudden curiosity? Part of the national revenues department or somethin'?"
"Shingawa Tensuo... That's... That's my uncle! My uncle was your medafighter!?"
Helixbeetle, at this sudden revelation, cautiously lowered his railgun. "He wasn't a medafighter... He didn't robattle. All he did was work on my components and medal composition. Where the heck is he anyway?"
Kaito's expression fell. "WAS your boss. My uncle's dead."
Helixbeetle suddenly looked around the chamber with a note of surprise. "Hey, that makes sense... This place looks like a dump. Boss never let things get messy. He was a clean-freak. So my boss was your uncle?"
"Yeah. Name's Kaito. Kaito Shingawa."
Helixbeetle sat down on the dusty tiled floor with disbelief. "Well, stuff a missile up my medal bracket. You're his nephew. You definitely look like him, I'll hand you that. There's that family resemblance."
Kaito looked around the room as he sat down on the floor next to him. "How was my uncle like?"
The KBT-type chuckled as he thought. "He was one of the best friends a 'bot could ask for. Had a lot of technical skill, but he could have been a great medafighter if he wanted to... He made me, parts, medal, Tin-Pet and all, you know..."
"I never really knew him. He only dropped in at home once or twice, and he never talked to me much. I heard in a letter from my parents that he was killed by somebody a few months back..." Kaito sighed as he thought about his family, now all long gone. "Have you ever been in a robattle?"
Helixbeetle chuckled again. "As strange as it sounds, I've never been in a robattle. Boss wasn't around long enough to get me in one, I guess. Of course, I'd always wanted to be in one." He turned to Kaito. "So, what are we going to do now? Am I going to have go back on that mounting rig?"
"I doubt it," said Kaito. "The letter I got from my parents told me that... Uncle wanted me to have you for a medabot."
Helixbeetle stared at him. "Well, I'll be... So that's why you're wearing his medawatch. Well, kid, you think you have what it takes?"
"Aren't you a little 'green' to be saying something like that?"
"Hey, I learned things from your uncle, kid!"
"Don't call me a k-" Kaito's protest was suddenly cut off as an alarm started to go off.
Helixbeetle looked around with a sort of anxious manner. "Damn. Security's been triggered. Don't get me wrong, kid, but I think you tripped a wire. We're going to have get out of here fast!"
The KBT-type medabot's last statement faded away as the two noticed movement down the corridor. Kaito gulped. "We seem to have company."
"I noticed that, blockhead... It's the sentries... Two of 'em, to be exact."
"Blockhead!? I'll give you-" Kaito's reply was cut short as a volley of bullets sent the two diving for cover behind a pile of cardboard boxes. A pair of tank-like medabots, sporting quadruple chainguns, rolled into the hall.
"Damn! It looks like we've been thrown into our first robattle... Kaito, do you know how to act as a medafighter?"
"Well, I've had a bit of training, but I-"
"Good enough for me. Kid, we're going to have to work as partners if we're to get out if this in one piece. Ready?"
"I guess so."
"Great. Let's move!"
The two jumped out from their cover as the pair of SEN-type medabots opened fire with their machine cannons, riddling holes in the floor and in the walls. Kaito looked at his medawatch and muttered a "Here goes nothing" as the two took a defensive position.
Helixbeetle looked at his weaponry. "Hey, Kaito, watch my back, alright?"
"'Kay."
"Hey punks! Eat railgu-OOF!" The powerful recoil of the railgun had launched Helixbeetle into the wall behind them. Kaito looked at him for a long moment before another hail of bullets sent them ducking for cover.
"I think you need a little practice with that thing."
"Same with you, shorty. All right, another try... RAILGUN!!" This time, the railgun shot forth in a controlled beam, hitting dead-center into the faceplate of one of the SEN-types.
A brilliant conflagration ensued, the explosion nearly drowning out the sound of a medal hitting the floor with a small tinkling noise. As if on cue, however, another pair of SEN-types suddenly rolled in out of nowhere, coming in to join their remaining comrade.
"Three now?!" muttered Kaito under his breath. "Okay, Helixbeetle, try using your Tetracannon!"
"Gotcha!" The quad-barrelled weapon flashed and sparked as a hail of energy crackled across the corridor, hitting the SEN-types' arms and legs with damaging effect. Another two explosions rippled through the hallway, and two more medals hit the dust.
"Got th- WHAT THE HEY!?" Four SEN-types marched in, and where there had been three, there were now five. Helixbeetle cursed. "Damn them! Boss put in a real good system here..."
Kaito looked at his medawatch. "Helixbeetle, try using both of your weapons in a controlled rate of fire... It might be able to stop them..."
"Roger that... SMOKE THIS, PUNKS!!" A dual volley of railgun blasts and energy bolts flashed across the hallway, raining death onto the quintet. Five medals hit the dust with a ringing tap.
Kaito was about to heave a sigh of relief, when a sound of rolling treads suddenly echoed into the hallway again. Helixbeetle pounded his fist onto the ground.
"DAMNIT!! THEY NEVER GIVE UP!!" Ten more SEN-types now rolled into the hallway, this time forming in a staggered formation, as if trying to evade the KBT-type's cannon-play tactics. Helixbeetle shot another volley, blasting two more.
"We're surrounded, Helixbeetle! We've got to find a way to get past th-" Kaito's remark was cut off as a concentrated hail of fire from the SEN-type medabots finally hit their mark, making impact with Helixbeetle's legs.
"GYAUUU!!" Helixbeetle yelled in pain as the KBT-type fell to the floor, his left leg completely disabled. The SEN-types continued to close in, firing several more punishing volleys of chaingun bullets into Helixbeetle's torso and arms.
"No!! HELIXBEETLE!!"
Kaito yelled. He stared in horror as the meters on his medawatch
continued to drop.
MEDAL ACTIVE: HELIXBEETLE ONLINE
HEAD: HUNTER-RADAR:
10% - STATUS: CRITICAL
R-ARM: TETRACANNON:
20% - STATUS: CRITICAL
L-ARM: RAILGUN: 30%
- STATUS: CRITICAL
LEGS: WARPSEEKER:
10% - STATUS: MALFUNCTIONING
WARNING: SYSTEM SHUTDOWN
IMMINENT
Kaito shouted frantically into his medawatch. "Helixbeetle! Get up! GET UP!!"
Helixbeetle got to his feet, grunting with the effort as the strained gyros and circuits in his legs whined in protest as he exerted his legs. Kaito noticed that he had an eerie glow in his eyes as he got up.
Without warning, a blinding flash of green light flooded the corridor, making Kaito impulsively shield his eyes from the staggering glow as Helixbeetle straightened, the glow in his eyes becoming even brighter.
Kaito shouted into his medawatch with alarm in his voice. "Helixbeetle what's going on!? Is... is that... the medaforce!?"
Suddenly, Helixbeetle unleashed a massive golden bolt of energy into the hallway, the walls crackling with powerful force as the huge bolt of energy flung itself towards the group of SEN-type medabots with all the force and weight of a meteor.
"GAAUGGH!!" Kaito dove behind a pile of crates as a massive explosion rocked the tunnel, sending pieces of the ceiling tumbling down in rough fragments onto the tiled floor. Abruptly, the forceful shockwave subsided, the glow slowly fading away back into darkness. Kaito looked up from behind the pile of crates, cautiously getting to his feet as the last of the ceiling's fragments fell to the floor. He stared in disbelief at what he saw.
Helixbeetle still stood where he had been standing in the corridor, silently regarding a smoking pile of SEN-type medabots and a corroded pile of medals which were all lying in a jumbled heap on the floor.
What puzzled Kaito, however, was the fact that Helixbeetle didn't have a scratch on him.
Didn't he get hit by those chaingun bullets from the sentries? He was seriously damaged... How... How did those medaparts...
The young medafighter cautiously walked up to the KBT-type medabot, and softly spoke, fear and awe mixed into his voice.
"What kind of medabot ARE you?"
Helixbeetle didn't say a word,
and merely looked up at Kaito with an impassive expression on its visored
face.
=====
Erika slumped onto her bed, exhausted after the day's training. Brass followed suit, collapsing onto the carpet with the clanking of strained gyros. Brass turned and looked at Erika.
"Miss Erika, do you think we'll actually have a chance in the World Robattle Cup this year?"
"I don't know, Brass..." mumbled Erika. "I know we're going to have to ask Ikki for some parts, since I don't think we can win simply with the set of guns you have... But what worries me the most is the competition. It's so... worrisome. All of these top medafighters, and we aren't even all that great compared to Ikki or Metabee."
"I can see what you mean..." Brass seemed to have a thoughtful expression on her face. "Miss Erika, I don't know if I'm going into something too sensitive, but what are your thoughts on Ikki?"
"Ikki?" asked Erika in slight puzzlement. "Why do you ask?"
"Well... because... I've noticed that whenever you look at Ikki, you look at him longer than other boys, like, Mr. Sloan or Spyke from the Screws gang."
"You've noticed, huh?" muttered Erika. "Yeah... I... I like him... He's stubborn, block-headed, but then all boys are like that... But he's definitely a great medafighter, and he's not that bad... He always had a good heart too..."
"And that's what you consider the best thing about him?"
Erika smiled at Brass. "Everything about him is the best."
Brass nodded. "Then... hm..."
Erika looked at Brass a little closer. "Something on your mind?"
Brass nodded again. "I... uhm... Do you think that medabots have emotions?"
Erika thought hard as she skewed her face in concentration. "I... I'm not quite sure. I'm certain Metabee does. Those two stubborn blockheads are two of a kind. But they both have good hearts... And they're excellent partners. Brass... are you all right?"
Brass started to blush a bright red. "I... I think so... Miss Erika, what do you think about Metabee?"
Erika chuckled and made a position of mock thoughtfulness. "Don't tell me... You've got the hots for someone..."
Brass started to turn even redder in the face and stammered for a reply. "W-wha... I-Is that what it is, Miss Erika?!"
Erika grinned. "I'm a reporter. I'm used to noticing that sort of thing. It's so easy to recognize. First it's the silent staring, then the oh-so-innocent questions that slowly focus more and more on the person you like..." She sat back on the bed. "Is it Metabee?"
Brass suddenly found her feet and legs to be of great interest. "It's Metabee."
Erika nodded understandingly and looked out the window. "Of course, being such blockheads as they are, I don't think they'd figure that out, even if we hit them over the head with it."
Brass blushed even more as the phone abruptly rang, interrupting their dialogue. Erika picked it up.
"Hello?"
Ikki's voice came on at the other end of the line, filled with some alarm. "Erika, did you hear tonight's news on the TV? There's been an incident at a local robattle arena building on the other side of town."
"What exactly happened?"
"Don't know much. Some rogue KWG-type medabot was on a warpath inside the building and utterly trashed the place. Several Select Corp. men are injured, one staff member is dead... And one other thing..."
"What?"
"Medabot Corp. has just been attacked."
There was a slight pause, and then Ikki continued. "By the same rogue
medabot."
=====
Siden was standing on the balcony of his room, silently staring at the trees below. Despite the peaceful atmosphere around his mansion-home, he was not feeling happy at all. What worried him the most was the letter he and the rest of the gang had seen Kasumi receive.
Ashton, his GWF-type medabot, similarly stood next to him, silent and thoughtful. A moment later, he turned to Siden and spoke. "Pardon me, Master Siden, but I'm rather puzzled about this new threat we ran into at the arena."
Siden shook his head. "I know what you mean, Ashton. I didn't expect you to be so utterly defeated, either. I hadn't expected that to happen. But the worst thing that troubles me is this: Why would a Robattle-Research test 'bot be set loose into the city streets? They wouldn't let something as valuable as that out of their grasp, slippery as their fingers are. My father won't be pleased about this."
Almost as if in reply, Siden's
instant messaging device (IMD) began to ring, notifying its owner that
a message was waiting for him. Siden picked up the IMD and flipped
the cover open. It was from Kasumi. Siden frowned at the display
as he and Kasumi began to initiate a dialogue on their respective IMDs.
K-mAn>> Hey, I needed to talk to you, so I chose this method of getting contact. Did you hear the news?
RRebel>> No. What is it?
K-mAn>> Medabot Corp.'s been attacked.
RRebel>> :\ Figures. Didn't that letter you got this afternoon say something like that?
K-mAn>> That's what scares me. And the worst thing is that it was caused by the same medabot that attacked the arena today.
RRebel>> Luminoustag?
K-mAn>> Yes.
RRebel>> ...
K-mAn>> Something bothering you? :\
RRebel>> :P Yeah. Something about this all seems too familiar. I've seen this before, and yet, I can't remember what it was.
K-mAn>> Whatever it is, there's nothing else. Select Corp. was being inept about the matter as usual, saying things that's typical of P.R.
RRebel>> P.R?
K-mAn>> Public Relations.
RRebel>> lol
At that moment, Siden's cell phone
went off, interrupting Siden's train of thought.
RRebel>> Hey, my cell phone's ringing. I gotta go. See ya at school tomorrow.
K-mAn>> See ya!
:)
Turning off his IMD and picking up his cell phone, Siden extended the phone's antenna and turned up the audio volume. "Hello?"
An eerie, fluid male voice suddenly spoke through the diaphragm. "I have been watching you, child of privilege. I have been watching you, and all of your friends as well."
Siden's eyes narrowed as he replied. "Oh? And what about us do you find so interesting?"
The voice chuckled. "Why, everything. I know about your involvement with Robattle-Research. I know about your friend Kasumi. I know about his many... talents as a medafighter. I also know about the medabots he possesses. Be warned, child. The attack on the arena and on the Medabot Corp. are only the beginning."
"What do you mean, only the beginning?!"
"By the time this is over, you will know, Siden... You will know."
"Give me some answers before I...!"
The voice laughed eerily. "Very well. If you seek some answers, you will get them. Come tomorrow evening to the docks... Pier 6. 9:00 P.M. ALONE."
Siden frowned. "How do you guarantee that this isn't some trap?"
"I don't. But, that's the fun of it, young child. It's like a game of draughtsmen, young Siden. It's important to think ahead... And sometimes, the risks are worth taking. Will you jump ahead? Or will you hold back your hand, waiting to see how your opponent will move? All of this is important," the voice goaded.
"Stop bantering, and give me some explanations!!"
"The only explanations I will give you are the directions I gave you earlier. Pier 6. 9:00 P.M. Whether you wish to come or not is your decision." With those words, the mysterious caller abruptly hung up.
Siden cursed. "Damn it! I'm getting nowhere with this... Ashton, what do you think?"
Ashton looked at his medafighter. "Sounds like a trap, Master Siden. By any estimate, it may be a good idea to bring along someone to ride shotgun."
Siden nodded. "That's what
I'd do... But, if I bring my friends along, this caller may choose
not to reveal himself... Or worse, he might harm them..." He
turned back to the stars that shone brilliantly above. "My mind's
made up, Ashton. I'll make my appointment with this devil.
If he chooses to make his attack then, god help us all..."
To Be Continued...