Disclaimer: Me no own these 'bots, this is the only time I say this, you no sue watashi (me)!!
Prologue: The Beginning of the End
"Action Mode, Metabee! Get behind him!" Ikki called into his Medawatch on his left arm, both hands clenched into fists.
"Gotcha'!" Metabee replied, jumping and transforming. He landed and sped around his Kilobot enemy, Ambiguous-Two.
"Ambiguous-Two! Behind you!" Suzie called, also into her Medawatch.
"Acknowledged," Ambiguous-Two responded stiffly, turning around, and locking onto the KBT in his Action Mode behind him.
"Metabee, Normal Mode, and launch your rockets!" Ikki called. Metabee screeched to a halt, jumped, and transformed back to Normal Mode. He landed, leaned over, and bowed his head, aiming his Ballister Cannons at Ambiguous-Two.
"Launching…Rockets!" Metabee shouted, and fired off two rockets from the double blaster, Ballister Cannons, mounted on his head. The rockets hit the enemy right on the mark¾ its torso.
"Ambiguous-Two: Head part: ninety-five percent damaged. Shutdown imminent," Suzie's Kilowatch informed.
"Metabee, hit that same spot with your Laser Fuser!" Ikki commanded.
"Don't give him a chance, Ambiguous-Two! Blast 'em!" Suzie shouted excitedly.
"Action Mode, again, Metabee! Get behind him again!" Ikki called. Metabee nimbly followed Ikki's orders, transforming and speeding around behind the MWB opponent.
Metabee (KBT-11220) Medabot
Special Attack: Medaforce
Type: KBT-Hercules Beetle
Medal: Kabuto
Medafighter: Ikki Tenryou
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Ambiguous-Two (MWB-13232) Kilobot
Special Attack: Rapid Fire Attack
Type: MWB-Jewel Beetle
Medal: Ex Medal
Medafighter: Suzie
Ambiguous-Two grabbed the handle of his left shoulder cannon and pulled it off his shoulder, pointing it ahead of him. He noticed his target was missing, and whipped around, only to find himself face-to-face with Metabee's Laser Fuser.
"Nighty-night!" Metabee chirped, and he fired his Laser Fuser, which hit the Jewel Beetle on the middle of his chest. Ambiguous-Two's Medal ejected with a clank and landed, rolling over to Suzie's feet.
"Ambiguous-Two: Head part: One hundred percent damaged. Function ceased, function ceased," Suzie's Kilowatch said.
"Oh, great…" Suzie said, disappointed. "I'll get you next time! You'll see!" She bent down, grabbed the Ex Medal, stood straight, and ran off, the MWB body transporting in a blue flash soon thereafter.
"Yes!" Metabee cheered, throwing his right fist in the air. Ikki ran up to him and held up his left hand for a high five, and Metabee unclenched his fist and slapped Ikki's hand high in the air.
"Good job, Ikki! But don't let that victory go to your head!" a girl congratulated from behind the black-haired boy. Ikki spun around and spotted Erika, a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl wearing pink overalls, and her school-girl-looking Medabot, Sailor-Multi, or 'Brass'.
"Congratulations, Metabee!" Brass also congratulated.
"Heh, heh, thanks!" Metabee returned, his lit-up green eyes closed and his metallic hands on his hips.
"Thanks, Erika. But don't tell me not to let it go to my head," Ikki began, "tell my hard-headed Medabot here."
"What's that supposed to mean?! You're the one who'd let it go to your head! In fact, it already has!" Metabee spat back, hands balled into fists and the top line of his eyes creased. Ikki growled in response.
"Guys, don't get in a fight now! You should be celebrating!" a young boy exclaimed, walking up to the Medafighting duo with his bulky, blue, Kuwagata (KWG) Medabot.
"Well, he started it!" Ikki blamed his Kabuto (KBT) Medabot, pointing at him.
"Don't blame anybody. Besides, if you ask me--" the KWG with the young boy began.
"We didn't though," Metabee said, slightly jokingly.
The KWG cleared his nonexistent throat and continued, "--you're both hard-headed."
"What did you say, Tyrelbeetle?!" the KBT exclaimed, resisting the temptation to change the KWG's name, Tyrelbeetle, into something insulting.
"You heard me!" Tyrelbeetle replied. Metabee growled.
"Some things never change…" the young boy stated.
"You said it, Zuru," Ikki agreed.
Then, a white, Kuwagata Medabot calmly walked up to Zuru, wearing a silk, beige cape. "Zuru, where's Roks?" he asked, looking up to the messy-black-haired young boy.
"I didn't think he'd want to come, so I didn't ask. It actually might be too dangerous for him to be here," Zuru answered, looking down at the Kuwagata.
"Hey, Rokusho! Long time, no see, buddy!" Metabee exclaimed, interrupting. He ran over and patted the white Kuwagata on his back cheerily.
"You know him?" Zuru asked, surprised.
"Yeah!" Metabee shouted happily, planting his arm firmly around the Kuwagata's boxy shoulders, gripping his left shoulder.
"He's an old chum," Ikki said.
"Rokusho! Nice to see you again!" Brass greeted, stepping in front of Rokusho and throwing her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.
"Yeah, n-nice to see you guys, too. Br-Brass, you're choking me!" Rokusho uttered. Brass released him and backed away a few steps, clasping her hands together in front of her and bowing.
"Sorry. Just missed you," Brass apologized. She stood straight.
"That's Ok." Rokusho turned to Zuru. "Why would it be too dangerous?"
"Uh, I guess you should see for yourself. Come with me," Zuru replied. He turned and headed for the school gates, and Tyrelbeetle followed.
"Ok," Rokusho responded as he ran after them.
"So, how do you know them?" Zuru asked, kicking a pebble in the path, as he walked with Tyrelbeetle and Rokusho towards his house.
"We met last year. I saved a drowning puppy while they were watching, so they wanted the 'scoop', as Erika would say," Rokusho explained. "Pure curiosity, I bet. And Metabee was a little jealous of me."
"I bet," Zuru responded.
"But why did you leave, and when? Where did you go?" Tyrelbeetle pressured.
"Well, my Medafighter, Doctor Hushi, returned at the end of the World Robattle Tournament, and I went back up into orbit with him," Rokusho said.
"Orbit? As in space?" Zuru asked.
"Returned?" Tyrelbeetle also asked.
"Yes. And yes. I lived with him a long time ago, until our house burned down. The Rubber-Robo-Gang started the fire. I thought Hushi and our pet, mechanical parrot, Baton, died in that fire, until Karen found Baton under a fallen tree. I figured there was hope that Hushi was still alive, and I was right," Rokusho explained again.
"Wow," Tyrelbeetle commented in awe.
"My turn to ask a question: What's going on with Roks?" Rokusho replied.
"I think there's something wrong with him. He wasn't feeling good yesterday, and he did something…completely off the wall last night," Zuru began.
"Please explain," Rokusho pleaded.
"Well…" Zuru started explaining from the beginning as best he could.
----------------------------------------------------------*Flashback*-----------------------------------------------------------
Roks, the white Kuwagata Medabot, which looked a lot like Rokusho's double, groaned, squeezing his eyes shut, as he rolled over onto his back under messy covers, still in bed, at twelve noon. He slowly opened his eyes and peeked over at the clock on the bedside table to the right of the bed. It seemed further away than usual, and there were three clocks, to Roks.
"Tw-twelve A.M.?" Roks questioned to nobody. He looked closer, saw the small 'P.M.' symbol in the top left corner of the clock's screen, and was even more surprised. "P.M.?!" He sat up quickly, but froze before he got out of bed, holding his head and squinting, trying to fixate his optic targets on one spot on the covers, feeling dizzy. He heard a door creaking open, then closed, and the heavy, robotic steps of a Medabot.
"Roks, are you awake?" the medabot asked. Roks looked up, squinting to see one image of the medabot, and saw Tyrelbeetle.
"Y-yes. I'm awake," Roks answered after a short hesitation.
"Good. If I didn't know better, I would ask you if you're feeling alright," Tyrelbeetle admitted.
"Then act like you didn't know better," Roks said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you were to ask, I would answer 'no'."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Roks fell back onto the bed, eyes closed, and groaning. Tyrelbeetle walked around the bed to Roks's side and straightened his covers. Then he walked back around the bed and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Later that night, about an hour before dinner, Roks lay on the couch with a pillow for his head and a thick blanket. He was watching Tyrelbeetle and Zuru play checkers on the coffee table in front of the couch. Eventually, Tyrelbeetle won, playing the black pieces.
"Ahh," Zuru sighed, bowing his head with his eyes closed. He looked up at Roks after a moment and asked, "You wanna' play, Roks?"
"Uhh," Roks groaned, and then continued, "Oh, Ok." He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the couch. Zuru stood and sat down next to Roks, held the KWG's arm, helped him up, and sat back to watch the game. Roks sat on his knees on the end of the table where Zuru sat, and helped Tyrelbeetle reset the game board. As they began the game, Roks played the red pieces, and Tyrelbeetle played the black pieces again.
A few minutes later, Tyrelbeetle was far in the lead, and Roks didn't have much of a chance to catch up. It was Tyrelbeetle's move, and Roks only had two pieces left on the board, while Tyrelbeetle had at least ten pieces left. In his move, Tyrelbeetle took one of Roks's two pieces, and landed where four of his pieces cornered Roks's one last piece.
"So what do you say? Do you forfeit?" Tyrelbeetle taunted jokingly. Roks had been making lousy moves all game because of his dizziness and headache, and Tyrelbeetle's taunts didn't help. He growled, getting annoyed, which was a strange thing for him. He creased the top line of his eyes and closed them angrily.
"Uhh, Roks?" Tyrelbeetle prompted. Then he continued, "C'mon! You know you've lost!" That did it. That put Roks over the top. His eyes shot open, glowing red, brighter than usual. He gripped the side of the coffee table and yanked at it, and quickly lifted the side up. He managed to throw the table onto its side, and the checker game setup slipped off the smooth surface. The table fell over, landing upside down.
"Roks!" Tyrelbeetle and Zuru gasped simultaneously. Roks stood up, clenching his hands into fists and opening his Cutlass sword on his right arm, and stomped heavily over to Tyrelbeetle.
"Roks? Wha-what are you doing?" Tyrelbeetle asked, looking up at the angered Kuwagata, eyes wide with fear. Roks pulled his right arm and Cutlass back, stopping in front of Tyrelbeetle. His arm shook. Then Roks lost all control, and blacked out. He heard clanking, and the hydraulic sounds of two Medabots moving around frantically. A few moments later, the sounds stopped abruptly, but he could still feel himself struggling in someone's grip. Slowly, he stopped struggling, and his vision faded back online. He found himself sprawled out on the ground, leaning back on Zuru, who squeezed his eyes shut as he firmly held his arms around the Kuwagata's shoulders.
"Zu-Zuru?" Roks questioned. He looked straight ahead, and gasped when he saw Tyrelbeetle laying on his side, out like a light, severely damaged with scratches, scrapes, and dents all over the right side of his head, torso, and neck. Roks felt a droplet of water land on his forehead, and looked back up at Zuru. Tears were running down the messy-black-haired boy's face. "N-no. I-I didn't… did I?" Roks gasped. Zuru didn't answer, and more tears streaked down his face and dripped down onto Roks's forehead. "N-no. No. NO!" Roks shouted, jumping up, turning around, and slowly backing away from his crying Medafighter, tears of his own forming in his eyes. He took another step back, and tripped over Tyrelbeetle's legs. He landed on his back, but quickly sat up, regained his balance, shaking his head with his eyes closed, and stood. "NO!" He shouted one last time, turning and running upstairs to his, Zuru's, and Tyrelbeetle's room, tears streaking off his face.
Roks stormed into their room, slamming the door behind him as he entered, and ran around the bed. He jumped onto the bed face down, and slipped his arms under the pillow. He buried his head into the fluffy, white cushion, and cried. "What did I do? Why?" he asked himself, moaning sadly. The pillow quickly got soggy from his tears, but he just buried his head deeper into it, shaking his head as he wiped off the tears.
"Roks? What's going on?" Zuru asked quietly as he entered the room, followed by the ghost-type Medabot, Gorum-Two, with Tyrelbeetle's Medal in him.
Roks didn't answer. All that came from him in response was a whine and more tears.
"Fine then. Don't answer," Zuru said, slightly angrily. He climbed up onto the bed, sitting on his knees, and pulled the covers up around Roks. He patted the crying KWG on his back sympathetically.
"Yeah. I don't really want to hear from you, anyway!" Gorum-Two stated, quite angrily.
"Gorum-Two, don't say that! Something must be wrong. If he meant to do that to you on any level, he wouldn't be crying like this!" Zuru exclaimed, looking back at the ghost-type.
"Uh-huh," Gorum-two agreed sarcastically with a nod and crossing his arms across his chest.
Zuru slipped off the bed, turned, and grabbed Gorum-Two's arm, dragging him along as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The next morning, Zuru quietly walked up to the bed and climbed up onto it on his knees. He laid his hands on Roks's shoulder and shook him lightly. "Roks, wake up. You've been crying all night…" Zuru said. "Don't you want to go to school with me? Ikki and Metabee have a robattle planned against Suzie and her kilobot, Ambiguous-Two, for this afternoon. Don't you wanna' cheer Ikki and Metabee on?" he continued. Roks moaned as he awoke, squeezing his eyes shut as more tears streaked down his face and onto the pillow.
"I-I do. But I don't want to go. It may not…" Roks left off, sobbing.
"It may not what?" Zuru prompted.
"It may not be safe, after what I did to Tyrelbeetle las--" He choked back tears at the memory, and his voice trailed off to a shrill, tearful whisper, "--las-last night."
"Roks… Ok. You don't have to come. You know the way if you change your mind. I'm leaving early so I can stop by Miss Nae's shop and have her fix Tyrelbeetle for me, so he's coming. You'll be alone here. Unless you change your mind and come, I'll see you later this afternoon, Ok?"
"Sure, Zuru. B-Bye."
"Bye, and try to stop crying. You weren't yourself last night, or any time yesterday, for that matter. I know you didn't mean to do it… did you?" When Roks didn't answer his question, except for a whine, he slipped off the bed and left the room with a weak wave. Roks watched him leave, then asked himself the same question in his mind, and tried to answer it for himself.
"No, I-I didn't. I couldn't have. But I might have, but--NO!…I-I don't know…"
---------------------------------------------------------*End Flashback*------------------------------------------------------
"What on earth is wrong with him?" Rokusho asked as he, Tyrelbeetle, and Zuru rounded a corner.
"That's just the thing. We don't know," Zuru replied.
"But I'd like an explanation," Tyrelbeetle began, "for why he did that to me."
"We're almost there. You ask him for yourself, Rokusho," Zuru said.
A few minutes later, Rokusho, Zuru, and Tyrelbeetle entered Roks's room. Rokusho immediately spotted Roks, laying face down on the bed under thick, white covers, his head buried in the fluffy, white pillow, crying.
"Roks?" Rokusho questioned worriedly, as he walked around the bed and laid a hand on his counterpart's back.
"Leave me alone, Rokusho!" Roks whined, wiping tears off onto the pillow. Zuru climbed up onto the bed, sitting on his knees, and he, too, laid a hand on Roks's back. Tyrelbeetle stayed to the side of the bed, behind Zuru, leaning on the mattress with his arms crossed.
"What's wrong?" Zuru asked sympathetically.
"Leave me alone! I don't want to talk about it!" Roks shouted. Zuru hushed him, patting his back.
"Please, tell us, Roks," Rokusho pleaded.
"NO!" Roks replied. He was starting to get angry. "Stop asking!"
"Roks, we're just--" Zuru began, but Roks cut him off, lifting his head and shouting, "LEAVE ME ALONE, I SAID!"
"But--" Rokusho stopped quickly, when he saw Roks's angered expression as he turned over, sitting up.
"Stop," Roks uttered, creasing the top line of his eyes, and then closing them. "Just stop."
"Roks, please! If you don't tell us, then we can't he--" Rokusho began, but he stopped quickly again, when Roks's eyes shot open, glowing red and brighter than usual. "R-Roks? N-now what?" Rokusho questioned. Roks was now very angry, clenching his fists and opening his Cutlass on the end of his right forearm.
"Uh, Roks?" Zuru also questioned. Roks opened his yellow hammer on the end of his left forearm.
Rokusho and Zuru looked at each other, and then back to Roks. "Uhh…" they both began, but Roks lifted both arms, crossing them in front of his face. They shook. Rokusho and Zuru gasped. Roks swung his arms forward.
"Roks!" Rokusho shouted. Roks's Cutlass swung toward him, and whacked him on the side of his neck. Rokusho fell over, sparking and bleeding oil heavily around his neck. He opened his back hatch and shut down without ejecting his medal.
Zuru yelped, squeezing his eyes shut and turning his head towards the right, as Roks's hammer swung towards him, aiming for the side of his neck. He gritted his teeth, groaning. The hammer swung at high-speed towards his neck, and then suddenly stopped less than an inch away. Roks blinked, and his glowing eyes quickly faded to normal, as he slammed his arm to a halt. Zuru cautiously opened his eyes, and when he saw his Kuwagata Medabot, tears forming in his eyes, the messy-black-haired boy gasped.
"No. N-not again…" Roks stuttered, tears streaking down his face. "I attacked you, Zuru…" he said, half to himself, half to Zuru. He closed his weapons and threw the blankets off his legs, swinging them over the edge of the mattress and sliding off the bed. He yelped and jumped when he almost stepped on Rokusho's corpse, and then skipped a step as he turned and ran for the door.
"Ah! Roks!" Tyrelbeetle called after the Kuwagata, grabbing his arm as he ran by. Roks wiggled out of Tyrelbeetle's grip and ran out the door, slamming it behind him, and tears running off his face.
A little later, Zuru took Rokusho to Miss Nae's two-story, wooden workshop to be fixed, leaving Tyrelbeetle at home.
"Oh, so he's an old model KWG, huh?" Miss Nae realized, referring to the shutdown Kuwagata lying on her worktable.
"Yeah," Zuru replied. He bowed his head and sighed sadly.
"What's wrong, Zuru?" Miss Nae asked, holding a silver wrench.
"N-nothing," Zuru answered, forcing a smile.
"Oh, Ok. I'll fix 'em." Miss Nae turned to her worktable and Rokusho. "Honey?"
"Yes?" Honey, Miss Nae's helper medabot responded, ready to help with the repairs.
Zuru bowed his head, losing his smile, and sighed, closing his eyes and thinking about his Kuwagata, Roks. He didn't notice his KWG Medabot peek around the corner of the workshop with sad eyes and tears rolling down his face.
"I'm--so sorry, master," Roks uttered under his breath, before closing his eyes sadly, turning around, and walking away, planning on running and staying far away from all his friends. He didn't want to hurt anyone else.
Meanwhile, in Kam's huge mansion, Kam sat in front of his triple-screen computer in a dark room, the only light in the room coming from the computer screens. He sat with his elbows on the table and his fingers laced together, resting his chin on his hands. He laughed wickedly, watching something on the middle screen.
"Yes, that's it, KiloRoks. Keep it up," he laughed wickedly again, "Everything is going according to plan." He smirked, watching the middle screen as a kilobot who looked exactly like Roks, except for the Extreme Tech symbol on his chest, swing his Cutlass forward, hitting a ninja-type medabot on the side of his neck. The blue, humanoid medabot fell over, sparking and bleeding oil heavily around his neck, and opened his back hatch, ejecting his medal and shutting down. "Soon, all that will be left after the Kuwagata Virus infects all KWGs, kilobot and medabot, will be the kilobots that can't and won't be defeated. It will be a perfect world, and I'm sure you'd agree, KiloRoks. It's not like you have a choice," Kam explained, though KiloRoks couldn't hear him through the screens. The black-haired boy laughed wickedly again.