Chapter II: Attack Two-- Rokusho
"Feeling better?" Miss Nae asked, standing straight after reactivating Roks.
"Yes. Thank you, Miss Nae," Roks thanked, moving around. He straightened his left arm out in front of him, and then bent it up at the elbow. Then he straightened both arms down by his side and stretched his legs.
"Good!" Miss Nae responded. She turned and picked up a screwdriver, then headed over to her worktable, on top of which Rokusho was lying, out like a light.
Roks turned to Metabee, who was standing behind him, just inside the opening to the workshop. "I'm going to wait at school for Zuru. I bet he's worried," Roks said, and then he walked past Metabee and towards Riverview Junior High once the Kabuto nodded.
"Wow!" Metabee heard Miss Nae exclaim. The KBT walked up to the black-haired mechanic.
"What?" Metabee asked.
"Did you make this shot?" Miss Nae asked, looking back at Metabee, and referring to the dent in Rokusho's chest.
"Yeah, at close-range," Metabee answered.
"You robattled him? No offense, but he doesn't seem like the type that would want to robattle," Miss Nae said, sounding shocked.
"He's not. And I didn't robattle him. He went berserk and attacked Roks, so I had to stop him before he destroyed him," Metabee explained.
"He went berserk and attacked Roks?!" Miss Nae repeated.
"Yeah. Have you heard of that kilobot causing so much damage around town?"
"Yes, I have. On the news about two nights ago."
"Well, whatever's causing that kilobot to attack is the same thing causing Roks and Rokusho to attack. A virus or something."
"Roks?!"
"Yeah, he attacked Tyrelbeetle, and Rokusho and Zuru. Well, almost Zuru. He stopped himself before he actually hit him. And you did the repairs on Tyrelbeetle and Rokusho."
"Oh my. If it's a kilobot with the first supposed 'virus', then wouldn't it seem that this is Kam's doing?"
"Maybe, but why would he infect one of his own? I know he doesn't care about his kilobots, but he still wouldn't deliberately infect one. It would make more sense if someone else started it."
"Who?"
"I don't know. But I plan on finding out, 'cause if I'm not mistaken, viruses destroy whatever it infects slowly, from the inside out. And I wasn't planning on my friends dying any time soon, especially not like that." Metabee turned and walked off to a chair on the other side of the workshop. He sat down and crossed his arms, bowing his head and closing his eyes. Miss Nae stared after him worriedly, then turned back to her repairs on Rokusho.
"Done!" Miss Nae exclaimed, taking a step back away from the freshly repaired Kuwagata. Metabee jumped out of his chair and ran over.
Miss Nae installed Rokusho's Kuwagata medal in his back hatch, and his red eyes lit up. "You ok?" Miss Nae asked.
"Y-yes. Thank you," Rokusho replied, looking up at the black-haired mechanic.
Metabee ran up to him, a worried expression on his mouth-less face. "You ok?" he, too, asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Are you actually worried?" Rokusho returned, looking confused as he glared at the Kabuto.
"Uhh," Metabee began. He put his hands on his hips, closed his eyes, and looked away, saying, "No, of course not."
"Are you sure?" Rokusho pressured.
"Yep. Me, worried? As if!" Metabee exclaimed.
Rokusho creased the top line of his eyes, getting annoyed that Metabee wouldn't admit to being worried. "Admit it, Metabee!"
"No! I am not worried!" Metabee shot back.
The Kuwagata swung his legs off the edge of the table and slid off, landed, and walked up to Metabee. "Then why did you ask if I was ok?!" Rokusho shouted in Metabee's face.
"I was--being polite!" Metabee lied.
Rokusho clenched his fists, and his eyes brightened. "Admit it!" he roared, pulling his Hammer Fist back, extending the yellow screws, and swinging it forward. The punch slammed into Metabee's chest, knocking the Kabuto backwards. Metabee landed on his back with a painful clank, winced, and then slowly sat up, shaking with one eye closed and struggling to keep the other open.
"Ro-Rokusho," he gasped. Rokusho held up his right fist, and his yellow, double sword, Chanbara Sword, spread apart so it would fit around Metabee's forearm. "No!" Metabee yelled, throwing his left arm out in front of him, fist clenched tightly. He fired a round of his Blaster Cannons, every shot hitting the target, though Rokusho didn't even flinch. Metabee got to his feet as the Rokusho walked against the powerful shots, and, once he was close enough, he lifted his sword and swung it for Metabee's left forearm. The two swords easily fit around the Kabuto's boxy forearm, and Rokusho tightened the swords. With a clank and a crack, Metabee screamed as the yellow swords dented and punctured through his forearm, spewing oil everywhere. Metabee forced his now useless arm down by his side, but Rokusho didn't let go. Oil-covered ammunition, followed by oil, poured out of the double, dark-purple barrels on the end of Metabee's left forearm. Rokusho finally let go, revealing punctured metal on Metabee's arm, and the oil covered ends of Rokusho's sword.
"Ro-Rokusho!" Metabee exclaimed.
"Rokusho!" Miss Nae also exclaimed, running up to Rokusho and grabbing his shoulder.
"Stay out of this, Miss Nae!" Rokusho demanded. When she didn't back away, Rokusho swung the side of his fist at her, hitting her on her stomach and throwing her back against the wall. She hit, and, once the dust cleared, held her stomach and the back of her head.
"You ok, Miss Nae?!" Metabee asked, eyes wide, and holding up his one good fist.
"Yeah, I'm fine," the black-haired mechanic answered, as her worried medabot, Honey, hovered over to her to assist.
"Good!" Metabee straightened his right arm out in front of him, fist clenched, and closed one eye, taking careful aim at the crazed Rokusho. Rokusho stood still, perfectly calm, as if nothing happened. "You attacked Miss. Nae, I attack you!" Metabee roared, and he fired. There was a loud clank as he fired, and the Kabuto squeezed his eyes shut. The shot echoed throughout the workshop as it flew through the air. Metabee heard the shot hit something that sounded like splintering wood, and opened his eyes, only to find his Laser Fuser barrel pointing at Miss. Nae, who was rolled into a ball against the wall, her hands over her head. There was a large hole above her head, and splintered wood spread out on the ground around her. Metabee sighed in relief, seeing that the shot missed her, but only by a few centimeters. Honey quickly seized the chance to help. There was another clank, and Metabee screamed out, as he felt pain in his right forearm. He turned his head, and saw Rokusho, letting his left arm fall down by his side after knocking Metabee's arm off track, with his Chanbara sword squeezing his forearm as he did to Metabee's left forearm. Again, the swords punctured Metabee's armored forearm, as the Kabuto winced. He forced his arm down by his side again, and, naturally, Rokusho didn't let go. Oil-covered ammunition, and then oil, poured from the double barrels on the end of Metabee's forearm. Oil oozed out from the joints in Metabee's right hand, and dripped to the ground. "Rokusho, let go!" Metabee shouted, groaning. Rokusho let go, pulled his left, Hammer Fist back, screws extended, and swung it forward in a hook, hitting Metabee on his chest; hard. Rokusho's punch threw Metabee back against the wooden, workshop wall behind the Kuwagata, and Rokusho turned and ran after him. Before Metabee fell to the ground, Rokusho caught him and kept him up with fast, strong, and fierce punches, pinning him up.
"Admit it!" Rokusho ordered loudly, throwing his left hand on Metabee's neck, pinning him up against the wall again.
"No!" Metabee replied. "I'm not worried!" Rokusho pulled his right-hand Chanbara Sword back, preparing to deliver the final blow. His arm shook. "Don't!" Metabee ordered. He paused, working up the courage. "I'll-I'll admit. I am worried about you, Rokusho. Very worried," Metabee admitted, staring at Rokusho with a smile in his eyes. Rokusho released him, his red eyes fading back to normal, and backed away slowly. Metabee fell to the ground with his knees up, and his useless arms hanging limply by his sides. "If this is a virus making you attack, then, well… viruses usually destroy whatever they infect from the inside out, as, in this case, you destroy everything around you from the outside in," Metabee explained. Tears formed in Rokusho's eyes, and streaked down his face, seeing the damage he inflicted on his friend.
"I-I attacked you," Rokusho gasped. He whimpered, turned, and ran out the opening and down the road running by the workshop, yelling, "No!"
"I feel sorry for you," Metabee began, staring down into nothingness as his optics dimmed, "Rokusho…" he finished. His optics shut off, and his body fully relaxed, his head falling face-first onto his knees.
Miss. Nae wearily stood, watching worriedly as the Kuwagata ran off, then turned and ran over to Metabee.
Rokusho sat on his knees by the river, his head in his hands and crying.
"I thought I'd find you here," a shiny, fully repaired Metabee said honestly, walking down the riverbank.
"Wha-?" Rokusho gasped, lifting his head out of his hands and looking up at Metabee, who stopped next to him with his hands on his hips. They were both silhouetted against the pink, orange, and peach light of the setting sun. "Metabee?" Rokusho questioned.
"Yeah, Miss. Nae repaired me. I'm fine. What about you?" Metabee returned, his green eyes smiling.
"I'm fine physically. But I feel terrible about attacking you," Rokusho answered. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears ran down his face. "I-I'm so sorry, Metabee! But, I guess sorry won't cut it after what I did."
Metabee dropped to his knees, bracing himself up with his hands. "I forgive you," he assured, laying a hand on Rokusho's back as more tears ran down the Kuwagata's face.
"Thank you!" Rokusho yelped, throwing his arms around Metabee's neck and crying into his shoulder.
"I forgive you, but I don't forgive whatever's making you attack like that," Metabee clarified, lightly wrapping his arms around Rokusho's waist.
Rokusho calmed down, resting his head on Metabee's shoulder and closing his eyes. "N-neither do I," he admitted, as more tears streaked down his metal cheek.
Later that night, Rokusho and Metabee laid on the riverbank on their backs, holding hands and stargazing.
"I'm very sorry, Metabee," Rokusho broke the silence.
"You don't need to say that again. I forgive you," Metabee returned.
After another long pause, Rokusho broke the silence again, asking, "What made Roks change his mind, anyway?"
"He figured Zuru was worried about him, so he went back home so he wouldn't have to worry," Metabee explained.
"Oh!" Rokusho gasped, sitting up quickly, "That reminds me! I should tell Doctor Hushi where I am!"
"Yeah, you'll be staying with me and Ikki again tonight, right?" Metabee replied.
"Yeah," Rokusho agreed, turning to Metabee, "I don't want to end up hurting anyone on the space station, especially Doctor Hushi." He stood up, turned, and headed up the hill, but stopped mid-step and turned back to Metabee. "Uh, would you come with? Just in case I attack, you can call me off like you did last night. When it comes to that, I don't care if you have to hurt me to save someone else," Rokusho asked. Metabee nodded, getting up and turning to Rokusho.
"I'd be happy to!" Metabee exclaimed as he got to his feet. "Even though I do hate attacking you, period, I'll come, just in case!"
"So, you're staying with some friends? Metabee and Ikki?" Doctor Hushi asked to be sure, standing in the door to his space station, Metabee and Rokusho on the metal walkway in front of him. Rokusho nodded. "Ok, great! Sounds good, since we're only here for a few weeks," Hushi continued.
"Thank you. I just don't want to attack you by accident," Rokusho explained. Metabee jumped, turning to Rokusho, surprised that he came right out and said that.
"Attack me by accident? How would that happen?" Doctor Hushi returned with a question.
"Uhh, well, Roks and I have been attacking for no reason. Roks attacked Tyrelbeetle, me, and almost Zuru, and I attacked Roks, Metabee, and almost Miss. Nae. But like Roks to Zuru, I didn't actually hurt her, but almost," Rokusho explained nervously.
"Why?" Hushi replied.
"Some sort of a virus or something," Metabee chimed in.
"It reminds me of that kilobot that's wandering around town and attacking people," Hushi said.
"Yes, I know. We're thinking that it might have something to do with that," Rokusho admitted.
"It probably does. Would you mind if I ran some tests on you? Either tonight or tomorrow, whichever you prefer," Hushi asked.
"Ok. Tomorrow I guess. Metabee?" Rokusho turned to Metabee.
"Yeah, Ok. See ya' tomorrow, Doc!" Metabee exclaimed, waving happily.
"What he said," Rokusho agreed, also waving happily.
"Ok," Hushi also agreed, waving. Metabee and Rokusho turned and headed down the metal path extending from the door to the space station. Hushi turned and stepped back into the station, and, once the medabots were off the path at the end, hit the red button on the wall. The metal path sunk back into the station, the end folding up and acting as the door.
The next day, Rokusho and Metabee headed for Hushi's space station after walking with Ikki to school. Once they arrived, they found Hushi standing in the door's opening, the pathway extended for the two medabots. When they were on the space station, Hushi led them to a door in the floor that looked like a basement door, right in the middle of the silver metal hallway in the sleeping quarters, or sector four.
"This is sector five, as you know, Rokusho," Hushi explained, pointing to the door leading under the space station.
"And we're going down there?!" Metabee exclaimed, staring as Hushi typed something in on the keypad on the floor next to the door. The door slid open with a hydraulic hiss, revealing steep steps.
"Yep," Rokusho answered happily. This would be the first time he's seen the inside of the engine room and testing chambers in sector five.
"Great," Metabee lied.
Hushi led Rokusho and Metabee down the steep steps carefully. As they neared the bottom, they slowly emerged from the darkness of the steps.
"Wow!" Rokusho and Metabee exclaimed simultaneously as they saw the complex machinery, metal walkways lined with metal gates so no one could fall of the paths, red glow, and, most of all, hundreds of medabots working away on the machines.
"Hello, Doctor Hushi, sir!" each medabot greeted as Hushi passed, and each medabot waved to Rokusho and smiled at the new face of Metabee. The three walked down the paths, and eventually came to a silver, metal door labeled 'testing chambers'.
The testing chamber systems powered on, and the lights flickered. Rokusho stood in the middle of the cold, empty room, staring ahead through a window in the wall, on the other side of which was Metabee and Doctor Hushi.
"And we're ready to begin!" Hushi exclaimed, hitting the enter button on the keyboard on the console in front of him.
"Ok," Rokusho responded. Two machines shaped like large bricks lowered down from the ceiling on thick, metal rods. Once they were on either side of Rokusho, a cold mist escaped from the vents and sprayed onto Rokusho, who shivered. "Th-that's cold!" he shouted between shivers. He crossed his arms tightly, shivering even more. "Can I have a blanket, or at least get my ca-cape back?"
"Sorry, but that's not allowed in the chamber. You can have a blanket and your cape back as soon as you get out," Hushi explained.
"O-ok," Rokusho replied, slightly disappointed. The machines turned around so their backs faced Rokusho, and stopped their spray. The glass solar-plate-looking triangle on the machines' new front lit-up green. "What's going on?" Rokusho asked, looking back and forth between the two machines, his red eyes practically turning blue from the cold inside and outside his body.
"This is scanning your systems," Hushi said, "Downloading in progress."
"Downloading?!" Metabee and Rokusho exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yes. I'm downloading his memories, senses, vital ratings, everything!" Hushi replied, "Once it's all downloaded, I can run the tests without having Rokusho in the chamber. If I'm lucky, the virus will download, too, and be held in a file so it doesn't spread through the system. Then I'll be able to watch those attacks like a movie of his memories, and study the virus."
"Cool," Metabee commented.
"Good. I really don't want to stay in here for long," Rokusho added, "It's too cold."
"You sure it's a virus?" Metabee asked.
"Yes, according to these readouts," Hushi assured. The computer beeped, and a message popped up. Hushi clicked on 'finish', touching the touch-screen in the console. Hushi scanned down the list of files, and gasped when he didn't find the virus's file. He typed in the virus's code in a file-search engine and touched 'search'. A moment later, another message popped up, saying it didn't find the specified file. The message also gave some other valuable information. "When it tried to download the virus, it wouldn't go? Oh my!" Hushi gasped, "The virus was made specifically for the systems of KWG-type medabots, and, according to this, kilobots, too!"
"Kilobots? But don't viruses need the emotions of a medabot to work in a robot like that? I mean, the virus isn't in the medal, is it? 'Cause that rampaging kilobot does have a Neo Ex Medal," Metabee questioned.
"I think it is in the medal. That'll make it harder, if not impossible, to find the antidote for it, if there is an antidote," Hushi replied, clicking through Rokusho's memory files.
Rokusho, inside the chamber, sighed. Again, the machines turned around and the cold mist sprayed out of the vents and onto Rokusho. "Again?" Rokusho gasped, shivering. Once the mist cleared, Rokusho stood, dripping with water, shivering, and his dark-purple horns pointing down. A few minutes later, he shakily made his way over to the door. As he neared, it opened with a hydraulic hiss and steam escaping from the inside edges. Eventually, Rokusho could make out the three-foot-tall, blocky form of the Kabuto medabot, Metabee, standing on the other side of the opening, holding a large, fuzzy, blue towel, and Rokusho's silk, beige cape hanging limply over his shoulder along with a blanket, which matched the towel almost perfectly, only bigger. Rokusho ran out to him, his arms folded tightly, and stopped in front of the Kabuto as he wrapped the towel around him, rubbing the water off. Once Rokusho was considerably drier from head to toe, Metabee pulled the wet towel off and quickly wrapped him in his cape, followed by the blanket, letting the towel fall to the ground in a wet heap.
"Rokusho, I think you're bluer than usual!" Metabee joked, though he was probably right. Rokusho nodded, took a step closer to Metabee, and leaned his head on his shoulder. Metabee wrapped his arms around the shivering medabot and rubbed his back in circles, pulling him closer.
"You could be cold for a couple days, Rokusho. But I think Metabee could keep you warm. He's doing a pretty good job of it now, don't you agree?" Hushi asked, walking up behind the two medabots.
"I'd say," Rokusho agreed, eyes closed.
"Metabee, keep that blanket. There's plenty more where that came from," Hushi informed. "Do you two want to watch the memories?"
"Uh, sure," Metabee and Rokusho agreed, looking up at Doctor Hushi.
A few minutes later, the three sat in a booth on the right-hand wall, Hushi holding a remote, and Metabee holding Rokusho, who leaned his head on Metabee's shoulder, sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest. They watched Rokusho's first and second attack from Rokusho's point of view, and were surprised to see… nothing. During the attacks, the audio was there, but the visuals were blacked-out.
"Rokusho, what happened?" Metabee asked after Hushi stopped the memories.
"I blacked out. Something else was controlling me. I lost all control," Rokusho explained.
"Doc? What's your analysis?" Metabee continued.
"The virus controls him, and he loses control when he gets just slightly or more mad or annoyed," Hushi answered. Metabee stared at him, waiting for more, but Hushi shook his head, "Don't know more than that, sorry." Rokusho and Metabee sighed in response.
Later that night, Rokusho lay on his back with his head on Metabee's lap. They were sitting on the couch, and Metabee seemed to be asleep, but Rokusho was wide-awake, his red eyes illuminating the room. After a few hours of lying perfectly still, Metabee groaned, squeezing his green eyes shut, and then opening them.
"Rokusho, would you please get to sleep?" Metabee pleaded.
"Why? Am I keeping you awake somehow?" Rokusho returned.
"Yes, your eyes are shining right in mine. Besides, you need your sleep," Metabee answered.
"I can't sleep. I need to think," Rokusho stated.
"Think about what?"
"Why I feel so mad at you."
Metabee gasped, nearly jumping. "You're mad at me?"
"Yes, but I don't have any reason to be mad at you."
"That's good to know. If you don't have a reason, then how could you be mad at me?"
"That's just the thing. Metabee, I'll leave tomorrow. Anger is what sparks those attacks, and if I'm angry with you for no reason, you could be in trouble. I don't want to hurt you, or be mad at you." Rokusho shut his eyes as a tear rolled down his face. He knew he was putting Metabee in danger of himself by staying there in the first place. So why did I do it? Rokusho asked himself.