Medabots: Open Ring
Chapter VII : Doubting Distraction
=====
"Don't lose focus...
Unless you have a death wish."
- Second Maxim
=====
The moon shone brilliantly over the sleeping city, unaware of the activity below. A few glimmering lights shone throughout the city blocks, like the seams of a patchwork quilt. Erika sighed and looked out her bedroom window, before turning back to her daybook. "It's a nice evening, isn't it, Brass?"
Brass looked up from the documentary she was watching on Erika's personal TV. "What makes an evening nice, Miss Erika?"
Erika smiled at Brass's question. "It's not much... We just say things, because... it's us. Humans are spontaneous, I guess... I heard my teacher often say that the dumbest humans are the most predictable."
"Oh... I see," remarked Brass, as she hopped off the armchair she was sitting on and silently turned off the television. She turned and looked at Erika, who was writing in a journal of some sorts. "What are you writing in that daybook, Miss Erika?"
"Not much," answered the young girl. "There isn't much to write about... Other than the latest stories I'll never release, things I don't want to talk about in public, and... personal stuff."
"Personal stuff?" asked Brass.
"Well, you know... Like Ikki."
"Mister Ikki?"
"Uh, yeah... I don't know if he likes me, for instance. I don't know if he still likes Karin... The way he acts sometimes... It's enough to drive a girl crazy, if you know what I mean..."
"So, you like Ikki... a lot," observed Brass. "Miss Erika, are medabots capable of having emotions... feelings? Like love?"
Erika shrugged as she felt her face heat up. "I don't know. I remember our last conversation like this... I don't know. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that... I think I like Metabee... Every time I'm with him, it's... I feel safe, secure... That he'll keep me from harm's way... Just like at Medabot Corp. when we were fighting against that medabot Belzelga..."
Erika pondered. "It does sound like you really like him," she remarked. "I sometimes wish I had your simple conviction..." She shook her head. "It's just that, whenever I think of Ikki, I feel like I'm on some sort of roller-coaster... Sometimes, it's so complicated," she finished.
Brass looked up at Erika. "Miss Erika, you didn't answer my question... Are medabots capable of having feelings?"
Erika pondered. "I don't know... A few years ago, I might have said no, but now... With the way that I see you and Metabee act, I think that they might be able to..."
"I see... So, are they capable of having feelings like... love?"
"Love?" Erika suddenly saw where this was pointing to. "Oh, I see... You're referring back to that conversation we had a few days ago... I don't know. When we were talking a few days ago, I thought that it was just a joke or fluke... Now I see that you're being serious about this. I could say that medabots just might be capable... of love." She turned and closed her daybook, staring at the floorboards. "We're so screwed up, aren't we, Brass? We both like a guy that doesn't have the faintest idea of what we think or feel."
Brass nodded. "Not the faintest idea..."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Erika looked up. "Yeah? Who is it?"
"Erika, it's your mother. There's a visitor for you."
"For me?"
"Yes... It's Ikki Tenryou."
Erika suddenly did a double-take as her mother's words finally registered inside her brain. "I-Ikki?!" she stammered. She fought for a response, then finally managed to scramble for an answer. "A-all right... He can come in."
The door opened, as Ikki and Metabee promptly stepped through the door, a little self-consciously. Ikki looked up. "Uh, hey Erika. I just came to ask about the progress on the information."
"Oh, not much," Erika managed to reply, as she stared at the floor.
Ikki looked at her closer. "Erika, you okay? Nothing wrong?"
"N-nothing!" she stammered, as she forced a smile to her face. "Everything's perfectly fine!"
Ikki shrugged, and then sat down on a chair. "Kasumi managed to get a lock on Siden's last known whereabouts. The Shizuken Docks. South-East sector."
"Oh? What did they find there?" asked Erika.
"Not much. Just a few shreds of his clothing... And his medawatch."
"Anything else?"
"Well, they used a cross-check whatchamacallit on his watch," answered Metabee. "They found out that right before he disappeared, he was trying to contact his medabot Ashton... Whatever he was doing, he was probably already in trouble by the time he called."
"I see... So what's our next move?" questioned Brass.
"Right now, we can't do much else, other than file the necessary information to Select Corp., and look for more information. Besides, we've got other problems," replied Ikki.
"Like what?"
"The theft at the Medabot Expo. None of us expected the RubberRobos to be still active after what happened at the last World Robattle Cup, but look what happened... Oh, another thing..."
"Yeah?" replied Erika.
"Kaito Shingawa called. He said that he found one of the RubberRobos involved in the theft... And that it was a girl."
"What exactly happened?"
"It appears that this girl was bullying some kid and he stepped in to stop her. In the process, she challenged him to a robattle and revealed to him her medabot... It was the same medabot stolen from the Expo."
"And afterwards?"
"Kaito and Helixbeetle managed to win, but she escaped," said Ikki.
"So then it seems that the RubberRobos are still active," remarked Brass. "But do you think that Luminoustag would be working with the RubberRobos?"
"I don't think so... Luminoustag is too efficient to be working with them," replied Ikki. "They always make a large bang when they launch an operation... Luminoustag attacked the Medabot Corp. with a bit of stealth... He didn't go in there with guns a-blazing..."
"Uh, Ikki, Luminoustag doesn't have any guns..." said Metabee.
"IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH!!" Ikki yelled. He sighed and turned to Erika. "Kasumi's going to check out the docks tomorrow... You want to come?"
Erika shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
Ikki nodded. "Okay, it's agreed... I'll meet you at the northwest tram terminal tomorrow morning at 9:00. Don't forget!"
Erika nodded in return. "Sure..."
Ikki got up from his chair and began to leave the room when Erika stammered something.
"Hey, uhm, Ikki...?"
"Yeah?" he asked, turning around. He noticed that Erika was now completely red in the face. He bent forward a bit. "Hey, Erika, you okay? Are you sure you're not sick? You've been really quiet this evening..."
Erika abruptly shook her head. "Uh, no, no, it's... it's nothing... Bye."
"Uhm, okay, bye, Erika..." He turned to Metabee. "'Kay, let's go..." Metabee was about to hop up from his spot on the floor when Ikki noticed something. "Hey, you two make a cute couple!"
Metabee had a bewildered look in his lime-green optics. "Wha-!?" He looked around and promptly noticed that he was sitting right next to Brass... Very closely. "Gwaah--!!!" Stumbling over in his attempt to get up from his seat, he tripped over some books on the floor and fell head-first into a nearby wastebasket. He began to kick as he tried to pry himself out of the wickerwork container. "Hey, Ikki, lemme out!!"
Brass was completely red in the face as she got up and began to help Metabee out of his uncomfortable position in the wastebasket, finally popping him out with a well-aimed kick to the bottom of the container. "Are you all right, Metabee?" she asked as he got up from the floor.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, no problem," he muttered as he dusted the trash off his torso. "By the way, thanks." He then got up and stood next to Ikki, as he gave a small wave.
"Hey, see you," mumbled Ikki.
"'Bye, guys... or, gals, I guess..." added Metabee.
"See you tomorrow, Ikki..." muttered Erika as she turned even redder.
"Bye, Metabee..." Brass said somewhat shyly.
The door closed as the two walked out, and Erika sighed again and slumped over on her armchair. "How stupid of me... I chickened out..."
"Chickened out?" asked Brass with a curious stare.
"It means that I was afraid," replied Erika glumly. "I was afraid to tell him how I felt..."
"I see," said Brass. "I guess I was as well..." She suddenly found the floorboards to be of great interest.
Outside, the cicadas continued
to buzz and serenade the sleeping town, unaware of two young and frustrated
females sitting inside the house.
=====
"Man, what a bummer..." Ikki sighed as he and Metabee walked back towards their house in the dim moonlight.
"What's got into you?" asked Metabee. "You looked like a strapped clam all day."
"I... had some things on my mind," replied Ikki with an embarrassed grumble.
"Things? Things like... girls?" teased Metabee.
"You shut your mouth! That's none of your business!!" yelled Ikki as he shook his fist at his medabot. "Besides, I'm not really thinking about girls right now... We have the World Robattle Cup to think about..." he muttered.
"Still, do you... Do you still like Karin?" asked Metabee with a mischievous look in his optics.
Ikki glumly shook his head. "No... not anymore... I learned that a long time ago."
"How?"
"I... just looked at her one day and realized... she's Koji's girl. She's not for me, and besides, it isn't fair to go around competing with Koji about something so trivial, and Karin doesn't deserve to be used like some object being fought over in a tug-of-war game... No, she isn't part of my thinking anymore... She's a friend, but that's it."
"So, then what girl is on your mind?"
Ikki turned bright red in the face as he started to stammer. "SO!? W-what's that to you? So what if I l-like Erika..."
Metabee's eyes turned as round and as large as dinner-plates. "WHAAA!!? You like her?" He started to first chuckle, then chortle, and finally laugh out loud in uproarious guffaws that made Ikki turn even redder in the face.
"Will you cut that out!? It's not that funny!!" yelled Ikki.
"No, no it's nothing like that," Metabee managed to say in-between his laughs, "but how long has it taken you to finally admit it?"
"Oh, shut up," grumbled Ikki. "Besides, don't you have a thing for Brass? Or do you still like Oceana?" he said with a malicious grin.
Metabee started to copy Ikki's previous behavior. "N-no! Nothing like that! I... I... I, well, so what... I... No, I completely forgot about Oceana... I... I think I prefer Brass." He suddenly realized what he'd said when Ikki's grin became even wider. "No!! No, it's nothing like that, you see I-"
"Sure, sure," Ikki muttered, as he continued to grin at his partner. "C'mon, Metabee, let's go home..."
Metabee sighed. "Okay, okay... Sheesh... How did we get into this now? And speaking of which, is that why you were so quiet around Erika this evening?"
"I'm always quiet around Erika," mumbled Ikki, "but, yeah, it had something to do with it..."
The two slumped their shoulders as they turned towards home.
After a moment's silence, they simultaneously said one single line.
"We're so screwed up."
=====
"Hey, Helixbeetle, hand me that wrench, will you?"
"Sure." The KBT-type reached into the plastic toolbox and pulled out a 9-gauge line powered wrench and handed it to Kaito.
Kaito reached up into the underside of the console and pulled at some wire. "Hmm... Ah! There we go," he muttered with some satisfaction as he clicked some wires together. He then climbed out from underneath the display and then stretched his limbs for a moment as he set his toolbox on a table.
Sonicstag, who was watching from a distance, walked up to the console that Kaito had been working on with some curiosity. "So, just what are you doing, Kaito?"
"Good thing you asked. I'm working on a telemetry system that will allow me to access any remote server using NAVI's networking CPU, and extract any information without having to get through obstacles such as firewalls, password protection, or remote detection systems."
"Isn't that illegal?" muttered Sonicstag with some derision.
Kaito's face darkened. "True, but I'm intending to use this system for a very specific purpose... To find out who killed my parents, and for what reason, and then I'll get even with them." His face then lifted somewhat. "Once the final systems including GPS tracking and real-time video/audio transceivers are finished, I'll be able to use this console as a primary center for gathering and monitoring data."
"Kaito," mumbled Helixbeetle, "I told you before, this isn't the way. The past is dead... If you let this sort of revenge get into your heart, there's no way you're going to be able to determine your own destiny."
"Helixbeetle's right, you know," added Sonicstag. "If you let that desire poison your heart, that will be the only thing that will control your mind and influence your actions. It will be the only thing that will determine your destiny... And you will have no control over it."
Kaito shrugged. "I'll be the judge of that. NAVI, are you ready for prototype testing?"
The display on the console flickered, and then lit up, revealing a voice-wave synthesizer. NAVI's digital voice spoke up, beeping as it began its reply. "All base systems ready for test. Shall I begin?"
Kaito nodded. "Go for it."
The screen opened up several windows, revealing lines of data that rapidly scrolled down the monitor as NAVI began testing for connectivity and compatibility issues. After a few moments, the windows closed, and NAVI's voice began speaking over the attached speakers.
"All base systems accounted for. All systems in place, no errors detected. Firewall and virus protections are online."
"Excellent. Shut down for now, NAVI. Let's call it a day." Kaito yawned as he turned the console off and set down his shades on the workbench. He turned to the two medabots standing nearby. "Well, I'm ready for bed... What about you?"
"I could do with a bit of shut-eye," replied Helixbeetle.
"Rest would be welcome," added Sonicstag.
The three walked into what Kaito had set up to be a makeshift bedroom, rigged with a small cot and two foam-rubber platforms that were set-up with two small power generators. Kaito sat down sleepily on his cot and stretched. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow. I think I'll go outside and get some more supplies... We're running a bit low on food and soldering."
Helixbeetle suddenly spoke up from the mat he was sitting on. "Say, Kaito?"
"Yeah?" answered his medafighter.
"What do you think of that RubberRobo we ran into the other day... You know, Sharkscout?"
Kaito chuckled. "Don't know. She seems to be hiding something behind a 'tough-girl' facade... Almost as if something awful happened to her, and she's hiding it from everybody she meets... A lot like some bullies I used to know back at the middle school I went to. Other than that... I think she's okay, though. Even attractive, I think..."
Helixbeetle gave an electronic laugh. "Boys. Just like I expected. Always thinking with their hormones."
"Hey, what about you?" retorted Kaito. "Didn't you have a 'thing' for Skyelder the first time you saw her at the expo? Huh?"
"Uh, well, yeah... Until we started robattling... Damn, that blade of hers is as cold as an iceberg," remarked Helixbeetle.
Sonicstag merely stared at the
two and sighed as he lay back on his mat. "Kids..."
=====
Sharkscout cursed as she flinched away from the shower of sparks issuing out of the arc welder she was holding. Removing her facemask, she sat down heavily on the bench and looked at her handiwork. Skyelder's faceplate still needed a new paint job, but other than that, everything including the optics had been fully repaired from the effects of the KBT-type's devastating attack. The RubberRobo threw her arc welder into the toolbox nearby.
There was a brief clicking noise, and Skyelder's eyes lit up. "B-boss?" A few gyros squeaked in protest as the Valkyrie-type medabot sat up on the worktable.
"Yeah, you're back up to speed, Skyelder. Just don't move too fast... The welds aren't fully hardened yet." Sharkscout groaned as she wiggled out of her rubber outfit, revealing a tight-fitting tank top and khaki cutoffs, as well as a head full of long, dark black hair that fell in a shimmering curtain. Setting down her shades, she then turned to the VAL-type still sitting on the workbench as she sighed. "Tell me, Skyelder, how did I lose? I'm one of the few members of the RubberRobo gang that had an undefeated fight record up until now."
Skyelder slowly got off the worktable and stood next to her medafighter. "Maybe because we underestimated their strategy? Maybe because we put too much faith in our abilities...?"
Sharkscout sighed again and focused her hazel-colored eyes on her medabot. "I don't know, Skyelder... I don't know. I stole your current body in order to make you even better in combat, but... I lost the very first robattle using this set. Maybe I've been putting too much attention on medaparts alone."
Skyelder patted her medafighter's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, boss..."
"I'm trying, I'm trying... Another thing," Sharkscout added, as she turned to her medabot. "Why did that guy let me go without taking you? I even let him have your medal."
"Perhaps... perhaps he felt sorry for you?"
"But I don't need anyone's sympathy!" Sharkscout's voice suddenly rose, and then faltered. "If I take someone's sympathy, that'll show that I'm... weak."
"Boss, may I ask a question?" Skyelder spoke tentatively.
Sharkscout shrugged. "Go ahead."
"Since when did you feel that accepting sympathy made you weak?" Skyelder's teal-colored eyes glowed softly.
"Ever since I joined the RubberRobos," replied Sharkscout. "My dad had always told my mother he'd wanted a son instead of a daughter... My mother later died due to tuberculosis. I was never wanted at home, and when I first showed interest in being a medafighter, my dad discouraged me from doing so. He told me he never wanted me to be one."
"And?"
"One day, I found a medal... it had been dropped into the flood-control channel. I decided from then on to simply do whatever I wanted, despite what my dad felt. I trained secretly, and I found a set of second-hand medaparts to use. Well, guess what happened next."
"What happened?"
"I won the regional championships... Can you believe that? But my happiness was short-lived... when I stepped out of the stadium, I found my dad standing at the front gate, red in the face, and as mad as I'd ever seen him. It was then that he told me... 'If only I was a boy'. It was then that I realized how little he cared about me because I was... a girl. When we got home, he promptly destroyed my medabot's Tin-Pet and threw the medal into the kitchen's trash compactor... I never talked to him again after that."
"That sounds awful... After that?"
"I ran from home soon afterwards... When I joined the RubberRobos, that was when I first met you, of course... A small, abandoned Mermaid-type that was only kept around for repair jobs."
Skyelder silently nodded, her eyes full of memories.
Sharkscout stopped, and stretched her limbs. "I don't know, Skyelder... I don't want to do this forever, you know. I have my own dreams; dreams of being a great medafighter, and finding someone that cares about me, instead of only themselves... Being a RubberRobo is tough, and even being an elite member isn't fun. The other elites are probably going to ridicule me about my loss for days on end, and especially just after my best heist."
She lay back on her small, threadbare mattress as she sharply exhaled. "But no matter what, I'm still going to beat that Kaito Shingawa one of these days... One of these days, Skyelder. That'll prove to everyone that I'm NOT weak. Still..."
"Yes?"
"He... did kinda seem cute."
There was a knock at the door. Sharkscout sat up. "Come in."
A voice sounded off from the other side. "No time to chat. We've got another mission, Sharkscout. Briefing room, pronto."
Sharkscout groaned as she wriggled
back into her suit and gestured to Skyelder. "C'mon. We've
got another job to do."
=====
Siden had always been sheltered from pain... Physical pain, to be more precise. He had always received his fair share of bruised egos and hurt feelings, but he'd never felt actual, brutal gut-wrenching pain until now. As he opened his eyes, he got up from where he was lying and groaned.
"Man... I feel like I fell off the roof of the school." His eyes slowly began to adjust to the dim lighting around him, as he noticed that the floor he was lying on was rather slimy and damp, almost as if it hadn't been cleaned for several years.
Slowly getting to his feet, Siden instinctively touched his left wrist, and found that his medawatch was missing. "Damn them... Must have absconded with it when I got knocked out." He cursed for a bit, then looked around. He was being held in an old, barred cell of some sorts, without even a cot or bunk. The only feature of interest was a small drain in one corner of the cell, darkly stained with rust.
There was an abrupt creaking noise, and Siden's eyes darted from left to right as he struggled to peer into the shadowy gloom that stretched beyond his cell. As his eyes finally got used to the dim light, he vaguely noticed the form of MACHINA standing before him with his lackeys. "Ah, good evening, young Siden. I trust you've rested well?" This last statement was followed by a dry, dull chuckle.
Siden abruptly stormed up to the bars of his cell and shook them, as he shot an angry glare at the hooded figure. "All right, you misguided fool, where am I?"
MACHINA's chuckle slowly grew into a full-blown cynical laugh as he responded. "No worry, young Siden. You are not in harm's way... Yet. You are going to be the guest of honor at this little event..."
There was a cacaphony of clicks and shifting metal as row after row of bright fluorescent lights suddenly blinked on, temporarily blinding Siden. When he managed to squint through his half-closed eyelids, Siden suddenly did a double-take. "What in the hell...?!"
Standing in front of the young teenager's cell was a massive, black medabot, as large as a heavy tank, and adorned with cryptic runes and silvery armor plating. Siden stared at the monstrosity, which, even though inactive, looked like nothing more than a demon that had been taken right out of the eighth circle of Hell and then mechanized.
MACHINA looked up at the medabot with evident pride in his glance as he spoke. "I see that Ragnarok has made an impression on you. I'm pleased. Soon, it will be more than just his appearance that will make all of humanity tremble and sweat with fear." He turned around and looked at Siden. "If you only had the brain to know how to forge the right alliances... You would have had a privileged part in the creation of this medabot. Now, I fear that you have been consigned to damnation like all the others."
Siden pounded the bars of his cell. "What the hell are you intending to do?!"
"My intent?" MACHINA's voice took on a chilling, foreboding tone. "Not much. Just a dream... A dream of oblivion."
His voice continued to grow colder,
and more ominous as Siden imperiously questioned him. "Oblivion?!
Oblivion of what!?"
=====
Up above in the chamber's rafters, unnoticed by either MACHINA, his lackeys, or Siden, Luminoustag steadily watched MACHINA gloat over his creation. His two crimson eyes burned with an enigmatic fire as he regarded his current employer. After a moment's silence, the blue KWG-type spoke softly to himself, a tone of deep regret and sadness in its voice as it answered Siden's question without answering it to Siden himself.
"Oblivion... of life as
we know it."
To Be Continued...