Medabots: Open Ring
Chapter XIII : The Infernal Gate
=====
"Hell is not something that you see when you die... It is something
that can be forced upon you while you are still living."
- Fifth Maxim
=====
Visions...
Many visions.
One image.
Kaito. Shingawa Kaito.
The young boy floats within the ether, slowly rocking back and forth like the cruel parody of some constant pendulum, as he ponders the visions before him. No... no visions. Just the darkness.
A voice, quiet and yet tingling like shifted china, speaks into the void.
"So... what is inside of you?"
Kaito looks about in bewilderment. "Wh-who are you?"
"Something inside... something outside. I ask you again. What is inside of you?"
"I... I don't know."
The voice gives a small, ironic laugh as it continues. "Is it something warm, soft, and beating? Or is it cold, hard, metallic... Much like the medals that you have seen and handled so often?"
"I don't understand..."
"Let me ask you in an easier light. What is your focus? Or, to be more precise, your foci?"
"I... I'm searching, that I know."
"Searching for what?"
"Searching for a killer."
The voice seems to give a contemptuous snort as it answers back. "What sort of killer?"
"The killer of my parents."
"Is that all you are thinking of?"
Images float through the darkness, congealing and solidifying into silent ideas... silent images.
Nitane.
Tarou.
Helixbeetle.
Makoru.
And many others...
Kaito shakes his head. "No," he mutters. "That's not all that I'm thinking about."
The voice seems to pause in a moment of hesitation, then reluctantly presses forward. "What do you want to do with your life? Being a hunter of vengeance is an inconstant and also temporary goal, young one. What do you want... to be?"
"I... I don't know."
The voice gives a pained sigh, then replies, drifting away as if the source of the disembodied voice was moving farther and farther away. "We will speak more on this later. Think carefully, son of Shingawa. Your priorities are skewed awry..."
And with that, the images disappear, leaving the young medafighter
alone once again.
=====
Light floods through the room. Kaito awakens.
The young medafighter groaned as he shook his head, trying to recollect his thoughts that had been disrupted by the ethereal dream that had drifted through his mind a moment before... before finding himself looking into two very green eyes.
"Wha-? Makoru?!" Kaito fully awoke in a flash as he stood up straight as a pin.
The ex-RubberRobo chuckled a bit as she slowly backed away from the startled teen. "You're cute when you get ruffled, you know that?"
Kaito grumbled as he wiggled out of the cot he was lying on. "By the way, what happened? Why are we back at HEX Cor- Oh, now I remember..."
The young medafighter's face skewed somewhat as he remembered what had
happened.
Smoke...
Choking fires, clouds of ash blanketing...
And then, right before the gates of HEX Corp, a blinding flash of
light...
Makoru frowned as she recollected what had happened. "Everything was going well for our getaway right until we reached the HEX Corp. front gate... Just what was that thing? Did you see anything different?"
Kaito shook his head. "No. That's about as far as I remember myself. Can you make anything out of it?"
Makoru was about to reply when a very familiar head sporting blue hair and glasses suddenly poked through the doorway.
"Ah, I see that you two are awake," Kasumi remarked as he nodded. "Time to get moving. Siden's been on the phone with Dr. Aki. Apparently, the invasion's stopped. Perfect time for us to set up a strategy."
"It's about time," Kaito replied as he wiggled off of his cot and his
feet into his shoes.
=====
"So as you can see," Kasumi finished as he pointed to the board, "the primary security control consoles are located here, here, and... here. A major NAVI access control station is located here, at the base of this fractal arrangement. Dr. Aki's been doing some analysis of these medabots that started the attack yesterday, and the best guess he can give is that they're Demon-types, or DEM-types, for short. High-density depleted uranium armor plating, a pair of recoilless shell launchers, and a pair of melee weapons, ranging from blunt cudgel-types to slashing claws. There's two known variants, according to surviving Select Corp. officers, one relying on flying thrusters, and the other being a bi-pedal ground unit."
Koji absently rubbed his chin as he stared at the diagram. "So, let me get this straight... We get an abandoned transit shuttle, sneak over to a docking port, wiggle our way through the maintenance access port, and then slowly re-take control of the station by means of the security grid?"
Siden nodded. "Something like that. However, as I've said before, the operation isn't going to be a cakewalk. Ragnarok, by itself, is no small cheese... Add to that some several hundred medabots that obey him, plus a CLUSTER-001 security system on the fritz, and you've got yourself a floating robattle free-for-all hell in space."
"Is there anything that might make our attempt somewhat easier?" Karin asked as Neutranurse stood close by.
"I'm not quite sure... Wait a minute. If we can somehow use the HEX Corp. NAVI server and cross-link it into the main CLUSTER-001 network, we might be able to scramble Ragnarok's operation sequences long enough to gain a useful advantage... such as some more time for ourselves. Kaito, do you have any objections to using NAVI for that purpose?"
Kaito shrugged. "If it could help, I'm perfectly willing... But how are we going to sneak past CLUSTER-001's sensor system?"
"By using a jamming code, courtesy of Ikki's PGM-type medabot Discdrive," Erika answered. "By sending out this byline, we'll be able to get past the sensor system long enough for us to establish a foothold and get to work on disabling Ragnarok."
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Makoru asked. "We've got ourselves a world to save!! Let's go!"
The phone had chosen at that moment to ring with a rather jarring clang, as Ashton hurried over to pick up the receiver. "Hello? Murasame residence..."
The words that Ashton then heard over the line made the current in his
circuits freeze.
=====
Two yellow eyes float in the darkness... Silent, and brooding. A rasping, hoarse voice, made rough by a multitude of hopeless prayers and countless curses, finally broke the silence after a long moment. Ragnarok.
"Resistance is to be expected... but it is of no use. The pathetic fleshbags will soon learn their place."
Another voice, deep but desperate, resounds throughout the chamber. "You cannot do this!! Think, Eldaris! Are you mad!!? Doing this will upset the Gate's balance-"
The image of a gold-and-teal armored medabot, with wings that seemed to gleam as if they were made of the stuff of dreams, slowly floated into the void of Ragnarok's mind.
Another image, that of a black-armored medabot, battered beyond all hope of restoration, also appears into the void.
"Enough platitudes, angelic fool. Though you may have been the Gate's guardian, Andurial, you are now reduced to nothing more than a mere appendage. An extension of my very will."
The Archangel-type medabot's voice grows weaker, and fainter, as it continues to echo through the mind of the other named Eldaris. "I cannot warn you for much longer, Eldaris... This purpose was never meant to be realized. Our race was not meant to see a blasphemy of this sort... If you continue on this path, you will utterly shatter the legacy that my creator and I strove to protect-"
Eldaris's voice angrily booms through Andurial's protests, shattering the once-powerful voice of the Archangel medabot. "To Perdition with your creator, and your legacy! There is only one goal in my mind now, and that is to exact my revenge upon this universe... this accursed place that became the destruction of our people. You are a soft-hearted weakling, Andurial... You are only another obstacle in my quest for the Gate itself."
Andurial's voice gives a sigh, both pained and melancholy. "My time is up, Eldaris. Though we may have been once good friends, know this... If I ever awaken again, sufficiently enough to raise up arms against you, then I will fight to the last of my emerald core to rid the universe of a soul tortured as yourself."
"An empty threat. You will never see the Gate's light again, old friend."
There is no response.
The darkness floods through, and the eyes suddenly refocus into the reality of time. "I am sorry, Andurial, but... to perdition with kindness. There is only justice. Ragnarok must come."
And with that, the eyes turn to watch the stars, ever unmindful of the
struggle that was occuring within.
=====
"Uhm, sir... Sarge, could you look at this for a moment?"
The Select Corp. officer on the deck sighed as he heard the adjutant call for his attention. Trudging slowly over to where the adjutant was sitting, the sergeant replied to the adjutant's request in a bored tone. "Yes, what is it?"
The adjutant hesitantly turned to the terminal in front of him as he pointed to a blip that was registering on and off on his radar screen. "I'm picking up a high-end thermal surge point descending on Sectors 32 and 54-Beta... Appears to be something... huge."
That got the officer's attention. "Is the descent in freefall?"
The adjutant shook his head. "No... the object appears to be utilizing some sort of retro-rocket system," he muttered as he pointed to several large red blips that seemed to be flaring outwards from the target. "See there? We've got... one, two, three... four flares simultaneously working over an Omega-C pattern."
"Try and get me a visual."
"Yes sir." After a few hurried keystrokes, the adjutant pointed to a blurred, bulging object that appeared on the screen. "Look, there it is!"
The Select Corp. officer stared at the object on the monitor. "What the hell...!?" Straightening up, he turned to a nearby communications technician and gesticulated to him wildly. "Get me HQ!! Tell them that we've got a major bogey descending on 32 and 54, stat!!"
The communications officer nodded as he hurried typed in a few commands, and then turned back to the sergeant with a flustered look as he pressed the receiver to the 'open' state. "Sir, HQ is awaiting your statement on Line 1."
The sergeant dashed over and picked up the receiver. "HQ, this is Surveillance Deck-39... Beta Control has detected a large object in a controlled descent towards the 32nd and 54th sectors... Omega-C pattern retroaction... And notify Medabot Corp. as well. We've got a major problem here!!"
The Select Corp. officer slammed the receiver down as he continued to
look nervously at the realtime footage, showing the flaming profile of
CLUSTER-001 as it continued to descend effortlessly to the earth below.
=====
Outside, the screams of the masses grew only louder, as the previous threat of a descending horde of demonic-looking medabots was replaced with that of the red-hot form of a descending space station, seeming to literally drill through the atmosphere itself as it continued on its earthwards odyssey. In a couple of moments, what still remained of the charred space station plunged the last few hundred meters into the concrete jungle with the force of an enraged deity.
There was a jarring tremor as the space station's enormous bulk continued to drive forwards into the earth, breaking apart nearby buildings with the sheer force of its mass and weight. Then, with a final shudder, the station ground to a halt, and there it rested as it continued to smoke and smoulder from the intense friction it had generated while on its inbound descent.
Bystanders and people who were still alive started to scream and panic, as people began searching for loved ones and friends, or to simply put as much distance between themselves and the source of the disaster.
Strangely enough in the face of certain chaos, two figures stolidly stood, watching the display as if it were little more than a fireworks show put on for their own amusement.
"So, Silverthorn... it seems as if the very source of our woes has decided to put in a guest appearance... Shall we pay our respects?"
The KWG-type merely nodded.
The two figures silently strode off in the direction of the descending
space station, while the general flow of the panicked mob continued to
stream in the opposite direction... Much like two insects, swirling
forwards against the current.
=====
"WHAT!?" Siden's chest seemed to literally explode as the brown-haired medafighter heard the news from Ashton.
The GWF-type medabot merely shrugged as he repeated the information he'd received over the phone. "CLUSTER-001's landed... and straight in the middle of the primary city infrastructure, like a toothpick in a martini olive. Select Corp. estimates casualties in the hundreds, if not in the thousands..."
Siden's hands clenched and unclenched as if they were spasming by their own volition. After a few moments, he turned to the others, who were hesitantly standing around nearby with expressions of fear and uncertainty which had resulted from the about-face events that had just occurred. Taking a deep breath, Siden then spoke. "We were all set to make a go for Ragnarok... and now, Ragnarok's come to us... almost as if the very gates of Hell decided to relocate to the mortal world."
Turning to the street that twisted and wound its way below, Siden regarded the worn cement with a strange expression as he continued. "I don't know what's going to happen now... we've gone so far, and seen so much. Just what are we going to-"
Siden's remark was suddenly interrupted by a thin, piping voice... Kasumi's voice. "Listen up, Siden... none of us know what's going to happen. We don't know what life, or our futures will bring us. Everything we've seen in the last few weeks has literally changed our outlook on both medabots, and the world that we live in... But I do know this, Siden. This thing is about to destroy everything we've believed in... our friends, our lives, our futures. There isn't any doubt in my mind about what we have to do. Stopping Ragnarok."
Everyone was silent as Kasumi finished his platitude. Then, without warning, everyone started to cheer.
"Way to go Kasumi!!"
"That's right!"
Siden, however, merely smiled his thanks as the blue-haired, bespectacled teen's words of encouragement echoed in his ears. "Thank you... Kasumi."
Kasumi nodded. "Let's go, guys! If Ragnarok wants to come
to us, let 'im have it!!"
=====
"Has the fourth circle been completed, Corchek?"
A darkened figure, silhouetted by an array of muted floorlights, stolidly sat back in his upholstered chair as another figure of shadows walked into the chamber. The personage that had entered quietly nodded before answering the seated figure's question.
"The circle is complete, as predicted, Leader. MACHINA is dead, which is rather convenient, and our 'dealings' with the RubberRobos have been completed. Most of their leaders are dead, with their lackeys scattered to the four winds."
The figure sitting in the chair nodded in satisfied approval before continuing. "And Ragnarok?"
"That pathetic homunculus of a medabot has acted as predicted, playing right into my hands without even knowing it. The Gods' War will proceed as planned." The figure standing in the dim shadows seemed to regard the hidden arrays of lights that were playing about the carved walls of marble inside the chamber.
The seated figure sighed as he slowly gestured to dismiss the other. "Very well. You have done admirably, Corchek. Soon, this world will be smouldering in ashes at our feet, and we will be free to start anew. Every pawn, in its place... The game is set. Checkmate is imminent. You may leave."
The standing figure bowed once, then slowly left the chamber, his footsteps
echoing dully off of the slick flagstone floor as the lights lining the
hallway slowly shut themselves off as they detected the figure's absence.
=====
"Seeker Missiles!!!"
"MISSILE LAUNCH!!!"
"PACKAGE DELIVERY!!!"
The quartet of ordnance slammed into a group of the fiendish medabots as their warheads detonated with destructive effect, ripping through armor plating and faceplates as several others of the demonic horde appeared on the scene to replace their fallen number.
Ikki cursed. "Damnit! Getting to CLUSTER-001 is harder than I thought!"
"Slam it to 'em, Ikki! The more of 'em come, the more notches I add to the stock of my revolver!!!" Metabee bellowed.
"Dude, these things just keep on comin'!!" Rintaro yelled over his medawatch to Kantaroth.
The assault that the group of schoolkids had planned out and launched on the wreck of CLUSTER-001 had proven to be difficult, despite the blitzkreig-style attack that they had staged. Although the initial wave of invaders had indeed ceased their attack moments before CLUSTER-001's descent, another, greater wave of invaders had soon made their appearance after the choking clouds of dust from the Robattle-Research space station's landing had settled, slowing down the initial barrage. Bodies of both humans and medabots, both civilian and from the Select Corp, littered the street, giving an almost surreal undertone to the battle that was raging.
"Don't get discouraged now, Ikki! We're almost there!!" Koji urged over the communicator as he and Karin continued their own little spearhead into the DEM-types' ranks.
"SHADOW SWORD!!!" Sumilidon's tri-bladed melee weapon cleanly sliced through another of the enemy as the STG-type continued to slowly progress up the surrounding slope of the crater formed by CLUSTER-001, following with a left hook into the torso of another black-armored medabot as he struggled through the charging mass of DEMs.
Karin was busily playing a defensive game with Neutranurse. "NEUTRAWALL!!!"
The shield barrier provided by the NUS-type medabot proved to be of great help, as most of the blows inflicted by the DEM-types were negated by the generated wall of energy.
Erika was busily yelling into her medawatch as she took cover behind a nearby pile of crates. "Brass, show 'em what it means to be a girl! Short-shot!!"
A hail of bullets blasted and bounced across the rubble-strewn street as the SLR-type medabot fired both of her wrist-mounted cannons into the approaching fiends.
Meanwhile, the Screws were busily attacking another section of the crater wall, with limited success. The DEM-type medabots, as they continued to pour out of the sunken crater as if they were the denizens of some unknown hell, had caught the three medafighters and their medabots in a sunken ditch, turning their pitched robattle into a trench war. Shells and energy bolts bounced and sizzled around the three as the DEMs pinned the gang down, as they continued to yell and whimper through the firefight.
As usual, Samantha was doing all the yelling. "Spyke, get over the wall and give me and Peppercat some cover fire!!"
"But b-boss!!" Spyke whimpered, as he did all of the gang's whimpering. "It's dangerous out there!! Are you sure tha-"
"Oh for God's sake! Lemme take care of 'em!" Sloan yelled as he gestured to Totalizer. "Totalizer, LASER!!!"
Totalizer gave a battle cry as he rolled out of the ditch and aimed both of his arms without a moment's hesitation. "EAT PHOTONS!!!" There was a brief, yellowish flash as two high-powered beams literally sizzled through several of the DEM-types, leaving a stench of burnt electronics and metal.
Samantha nodded in approval, then turned to Peppercat. "Okay, Peppercat, it's your move! Get on over there and give 'em a jolt!!"
The CAT-type medabot bounded out of the ditch like some spring-loaded wheeljack as she slashed through several DEMs, sending them sizzling to the ground as Spyke and Crosserdog finally worked up enough nerve to stand up and out of the ditch and give Peppercat some cover fire.
"CROSSERDOG, AIM RIFLE!!" Spyke screamed with all the desperate resolve of one staring death in the face.
And so it went.
=====
Over on the south side, Kasumi and his gang of schoolmates were busily launching another assault on CLUSTER-001, pretty much with guns a-blazing.
Kasumi threw command after command into his medawatch. "Granbeetle! Full power to all guns!!" The KBT-type medabot launched a volley of bullets as every single cannon that was on Granbeetle's body began firing round after round into a contingent of flying DEMs, sending one after another plummeting to the ground.
Without warning, a clawed arm reached out from the ground, ripping into the orange-yellow KBT-type's left leg. "YEOOWCH!!" Granbeetle yelled as he looked down, first in consternation and then surprise, as several DEM-types began erupting upwards from the ground. "Damnit! Stop biting my ankles!!" the Hercules-Beetle type bellowed as he blasted the head of one of their number off and caved in the faceplate of another with an armored fist.
Hiyori grinned. "So, they wanna play hide-and-seek, huh? We'll gladly be 'it'! Blazer-Multi, Variable Radar!!" The blue BLZ-type medabot began to hum as it began scanning the ground, exposing the burrowing medabots as if they were little more than moles plowing through someone's lawn.
"I've got a lock! MACHINE-CANNON!!" Fubuki yelled as her LDB-type medabot raised its repeaters and began rattling as a burst of machine-gun fire shot down a set of burrowing DEMs.
"Ashton, aim your cannon at the ground!!" Siden yelled as the grey GWF-type medabot slammed the barrel of its huge beam-breaker on its right arm into the dirt. With a blinding flash, and then a series of tortured shrieks and sizzles, the ground seemed to literally erupt as the discharging graviton energy fried another group of digging DEMs.
Kasumi turned to Mizore and Goutetsu, who were busily smashing a separate group of ground units. "Mizore! Goutetsu! Take the outer wall! I don't want any of those things getting near our anchorpoints!!"
The two nodded as they turned to their medabots. Mizore quickly yelled his orders through his medawatch. "Sikkuru, you heard him! Don't give 'em any room to get in!!"
"SCISSOR CLAW!!!" The blue medabot yelled with gusto as his two hydraulic-powered claws began ripping through another group of DEMs, tearing through the armor plate and exposing the gleaming Tin-Pet underneath.
"Bagstein, give 'em a beam blaster!!" Goutetsu yelled as he turned to his STN-type medabot.
"SLAM IT!!" The orange tank-like medabot yelled as he raised both of his arms, firing blast after blast of fireball beams into the DEMs, sending them to the scrap heap. As if in reply to the STN-type's warcry, a dozen more DEM-types sprang out of the earth, clambering onto the disc-like head as they attempted to scratch and bash their way through Bagstein's thick armor.
The entire scene looked like a detachment of infantry trying to overpower a piece of mobile artillery, as Bagstein frantically began swiping at the DEMs to try and brush them off of his armored bulk.
"EAT RAILGUN!!!" The baritone voice of Helixbeetle rang out over the field as several bluish-green bolts of energy picked off the demonic medabots one by one. Kaito stood nearby, grinning at his handiwork as he gave a thumbs-up to Goutetsu.
"C'mon, stop dawdling around! Give us some fire support!!" the brown-haired medafighter urged, as Makoru and Skyelder rushed in a second afterwards, dusting off their hands as they left a pile of wrecked DEMs in their wake.
The heavyset medafighter nodded to the duo as he turned to Bagstein. "Thanks... Bagstein, fireball beam!"
Another volley of fireball blasts shook the field as they slammed into another contingent.
Makoru turned to Skyelder. "All right, girl, time to show 'em what you're made of! CRYSTAL HALBERD!!!"
"KYI-YAAAAAH!!!" The VAL-type screamed in a frenzied battlecry as she swung wildly into another group of DEMs, either slicing cleanly through their ranks or leaving their leg-mounted joints and gyros frozen in place; unable to move. The Valkyrie-type charged forward even further, as she continued to battle her way up towards the wrecked space station, blocking blows and returing them with crushing effect using her ornate kite shield, and tossing the enemy left and right with every blow from her crystalline polearm.
"TETRACANNON!!" A hail of energy bolts added to the already damaging effects of Skyelder's polearm swing, as Helixbeetle continued to blast into the oncoming swarm, taking on the units that were at a greater distance with his railgun, and wrecking the bodies of those that were standing closer with his four-barrelled cannon, as the shots bounced off the surrounding rubble.
Kaito's grin at seeing the DEMs collapse before Helixbeetle's barrage suddenly faded as several more detachments suddenly sprang out of the rubble, weapons at the ready.
"Damnit, it's like going through HEX Corp. all over again!" Kaito cursed as he continued to monitor the still-minor but accumulating damage that Helixbeetle was slowly sustaining in his brawling. Turning to Makoru, he quickly yelled a couple of terse commands as he fought off a couple of swooping DEMs. "Makoru, we need a clear corridor to CLUSTER-001! Get us an opening!!"
"Got it!" Makoru yelled as she turned to the VAL-type medabot standing next to her. "Skyelder, use Evader! Try and get us an access point to the station!"
Skyelder, in response, began doing backflips and somersaults over the heads of the DEMs, bopping a couple of armored heads in mid-flight as she finally landed horizontally on the walls of the space station. "I've got contact with the target, Makoru-" The rest of her sentence was interrupted as several DEMs lunged at her to defend their base while the VAL-type gave a few quick swings as if shooing some flies away; with limited success. "Makoru, I'm getting overwhelmed! I can't maintain my position!!"
"That's fine, Skyelder, just get back before you get surrounded!!" Makoru sighed with a mixture of relief and disappointment as the VAL-type vaulted over the DEMs back towards her medafighter as she narrowly missed being clipped by several random shots aimed in the medabot's direction.
Everywhere that Kaito and Makoru looked, it seemed that every DEM-type they brought to the dust was being replaced by four more. Kaito pulled out a walkie-talkie as he dialed in to Kasumi.
"Kasumi, we're getting overwhelmed on your Three. Can you give us a hand?"
Kasumi's voice burst through the speakers in a short spurt of static as he made reply. "Gotcha! I'm sending in reinforcements right now!!" There was another burst of static as the blue-haired teenager finished his sentence over the comm. "TRANSPORT KAISERBEETLE!!!"
There was a blinding blue flash of light as the gigantic red KBT-type medabot descended onto the field, with all of its guns at the ready. "LOCKED AND LOADED!!" The crimson KBT-type yelled a mighty cry as he jammed one of his huge gun barrels through the torso of one DEM with a loud crunch, and fired off a volley in the direction of another, tearing through armor and Tin-Pet joints as the red medabot continued to literally berserk his way through the blackened mass of metal.
"AUTOCANNON!!!" Several more DEMs collapsed where they stood as Kaiserbeetle shot another volley with its single-barrelled repeating cannon. "IT'S A WHEAT FIELD, AND I'M A MOWER!!!"
Kasumi and Granbeetle suddenly appeared from behind a pile of rubble, panting and struggling through the wreckage as they hurried over. "I'd better keep an eye on you, my itchy-triggered friend," Kasumi muttered as he reconfigured his medawatch to handle both of his KBT-type medabots. "All right, both of you! TAG TEAM MULTI-SHOT!!"
Granbeetle scrambled onto the gigantic, pointed head of Kaiserbeetle, much like a sailor taking aim with an artillery piece on the prow of a ship. "Hey, big guy, let's show 'em what it means to mess with us!!"
Kaiserbeetle roughly nodded as he swatted down two more DEM-types. "LET'S ROCK! MEDACHANGE!!!" The huge red KBT-type suddenly flashed a brilliant white as its arms, head, and legs suddenly reconfigured themselves into the form of a hovering gunship armed with a gigantic three-barrelled autocannon, as Granbeetle took a handhold and began aiming with his single-barrelled right arm.
"REVOLVER!!!"
The two KBTs charged forwards in a hail of fire as rank after rank of
DEMs fell to pieces from the intense onslaught. Whatever Kaiserbeetle
didn't immediately cut down with his larger autocannon, Granbeetle picked
off with his own wrist-mounted revolver.
=====
As a spearhead began forming on the southern sector, Ikki and the others finally reached the edge of the crater, where an access hatch peeked out from the rubble, scratched and dented . "Metabee, blow that door down! Seeker Missile!!"
"MISSILE LAUNCH!!!" The warheads quickly slammed into the access hatch... And dissipated, as the door still stayed shut, without even a scratch.
"K'so!!" Ikki cursed as he kicked and pounded at the door, as Metabee continued to blast away at the ever-countless DEMs that kept coming for more. Luminoustag and Sonicstag would have come in handy, but they had stayed behind at HEX Corp. in order to keep an eye on NAVI.
"Damnit, we can't take much more of them!!" Erika cursed as she pointed out several more targets for Brass to fire at. Like it would do any good...
"GRAARRGGH!!!" Sumilidon, on the other hand, continued to tangle with the DEMs in an up-close-and-personal fashion.
KLAANGG!!"
Several more DEMs fell to pieces from the STG-type's three-bladed sword, as another contingent launched themselves upwards from out of the rubble as Sumilidon turned to meet this new threat.
"Damn him!!" Koji yelled as he turned to Ikki. "Ikki, we can't take on much more of this! Sumilidon's armor integrity's beginning to run low, and I don't think anyone else can take much more of this soon... How the hell do we get in!?"
Ikki grunted as he got out of Metabee's way, as the KBT-type blasted off several more missiles. "KISS YOUR 'BOT GOODBYE!!!"
Ikki turned to Erika. "How long do you think we can hold out under these conditions?"
"Not more than half an hour, tops," Erika grumbled as she watched the meters on her watch continue to drop.
"Great."
And then, just as suddenly as CLUSTER-001 had landed onto Earth, the wave of medabots suddenly stopped. Ikki and the others did a double-take as the wave of DEMs began moving away, slowly marching off to 'God-only-knows-where'. Others suddenly fell apart into scraps of metal, as if the only thing that was holding them together were their sheer willpower.
And as if to stun them even further, the door which Metabee had been attacking for a frustrated five minutes before, suddenly swooshed open as if it had been unlocked the entire time. Metabee narrowly eyed the open doorway that stood before them.
"I don't like this, Ikki... We were up to our waists in those friggin' walking tin-cans, and now we're given the welcome mat? Something here stinks."
Ikki nodded. "Right... I don't trust this either. All right, guys, let's move in, but keep your eyes peeled. Ragnarok just might be setting up a welcoming committee inside."
The hallway seemed to echo with the footsteps of the kids walking inside,
ringing off the metal plating... Like a death knell.
=====
The pair of yellow eyes intently watched with barely-contained interest, especially one figure in the group that entered the wrecked station.
"So, I have lain eyes on you again... Andante-Kels. And, if my memory is accurate, we have an account to settle. A very LARGE account."
There was a brief, rumbling noise, as if the voice was chuckling, and
then there was silence. The ring continued to revolve unbroken.
To Be Continued...