The Will Of The Medafighter
Chapter three: Interviews, Searches and…Love?
Erika stood on the porch of Larry's house, camera in hand, notebook in her back pocket and plenty of spare film in her overall's front pouch. This is great! Erika, first reporter to get an interview with the second ranked Medafighter in the world. They'd better break out the Pulitzer, cause I'm a shoe-in. She rang the bell and waited. The door opened and there stood Larry, dressed in his boxers and a black T-shirt. Erika and Larry went red, and Erika turned around.
"Would you mind putting on some pants?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute." A minute later, he had put on a pair of blue jeans and ushered her inside. The house looked remarkably clean, almost as if Mrs Tenrio did the cleaning. A massive 95-inch Plasma television and three couches took up the living room. On the one couch was a blanket and a pillow.
"Sorry about that. I'd completely lost track of the time when I got home, so I ate what was left in the fridge and took a nap. Have you eaten yet?" Erika's stomach answered for itself with a low growl, and she looked embarrassed. Larry smiled, before his stomach did the same. The two grinned and Larry pulled his phone closer.
"Pizza okay?"
"Sure, just hold the onions, gherkins and the Anchovies."
"Okay, we've got to wait for twenty minutes. How about starting the interview."
Erika sat on the couch opposite him and pulled out her notepad.
"Let's start from the beginning. How old were you when you started Robattling? "
"Fourteen. I've been doing it for two years now."
"Do you have any girlfriends?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm doing an expose on you, so I need a lot of details about your personal life."
"No, I don't have one at the moment."
"Are you looking for one?"
"Maybe." The interview continued for another twenty minutes. When the pizza arrived, Erika knew Larry's birthdate, zodiac sign, favourite colour and many other things. They then ate the pizza while watching a late night horror movie. When there was only one piece left, they both reached for it at the same time and they accidentally gripped each other's hands. They went red again and pulled their hands apart, albeit slightly reluctantly.
The movie wasn't very scary, so Larry switched over to the Scary Movie cable network. They were showing reruns of twentieth century thrillers and horrors. He was just in time to see the start of the "Blair Witch Project" He had seen it about twenty times, so it wasn't creepy at all. Erika was majorly freaked out however. As the movie went on, she started shaking and suddenly grabbed Larry's hand and almost crushed his fingers.
"This is freaky…I'm scared."
"Calm down Erika, it's only a movie." But she didn't and was glued to the screen. Suddenly, a loud crash made her leap into Larry's lap and she clung to his neck.
"Ahh, what was that?"
"Only thunder. Listen, there's one heavy rainstorm coming this way." The rain pounded down on the roof of the house and Erika sighed. Larry tried to keep his heart from jumping into his throat, but he couldn't help himself anymore. He gently kissed Erika on her mouth, and was surprised when she returned it. Slowly, they kissed and allowed themselves to explore each other's mouths. After five minutes, Erika laid her head down on Larry's chest and he held her close to him.
"Erika…"
"Yes?"
"We'll have to change your story."
"Why?"
"Well, I'm not looking for a girlfriend anymore. I've got her right in front of me." Erika planted one more kiss on his cheek, and that is how they fell asleep. Larry's arms around Erika's back and waist, and Erika's arms around his neck with her head on his chest. Both had smiles on their faces.
Sheena strolled through an old construction site, thinking about the World Championship. As she passed a crane, she heard a voice call her.
"Yo, Sheena!" Looking up, she spotted the other Metabee from before. She felt slightly lonely, and leapt up to join him.
"Well hi there Bee boy. I'm touched that you remember my name."
"I always remember the name of someone who owes me a Robattle. So, did you find out who the robbers were?"
"Yes. Four weirdos dressed in rubber tuxedos. They tried to get my medal by cheating, and would've succeeded if it wasn't for Rokusho."
"Rokusho, you mean he's back in town?"
"You know him?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm sitting out here. He was always calm and composed, so I'm trying it to psyche me up for the World Championship. Where's your Medafighter?" She knocked him on the side of the head with her fist.
"He is NOT my Medafighter, he's my friend. I told him to go on without me, since I wanted to have a look around."
"There's something I want to ask you. Do you have a Melded Medal?"
"Yes I do. What do you care?"
"Mind telling me what it is?"
"Neither me nor Larry really know. It's supposed to be stronger than all the rare medals combined, but all I've been able to use so far is the Medaforce." They talked for hours on end, until Metabee noticed the time.
"Hey! I've got to get home, it's almost nine."
"You have a curfew?"
"Yeah, don't you?"
"No. I'm supposed to be home by ten, but Larry knows I can take care of myself. Mind me going over to your place? I'm bored stiff."
"Sure. Ikki won't mind, and neither will his mom."
Just as they reached the front door, a huge typhoon-like rainstorm started. Metabee opened the door and took her inside. Mrs Tenrio was busy washing up in the kitchen. She spotted the two and greeted them.
"Evening Metabee, who's your friend?"
"My name is Sheena ma'am. I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
"Oh heavens no. If you're looking for Ikki, he's in the living room." The two found Ikki playing games. Sheena swept her eyes over the consoles and spotted a familiar one in the corner.
"Whoa! That's one of those old SNES. Where'd you get it?"
"My great-grandfather left it to me, but I've only got one game and Metabee is a master at that." Metabee thumped his chest proudly and held his head high.
"I am the ultimate Dragonball Z Hyper Dimension player!"
"I don't think so. How about a match, right now?"
"You're on!" They loaded up the game and the versus match started with Sheena choosing Goku and Metabee choosing Gohan.
"You're going down dude, no-one has ever beaten Gohan."
"We'll see…We'll see." The match started off pretty evenly, and continued in that fashion until the end. Sheena had been knocked down to red energy and Metabee still had 7/8 of his lifebar. Suddenly, Goku started smacking the stuffing out of Gohan and knocked him to the floor.
"Eat Spirit Bomb!" A few explosions later, and Sheena had won. Metabee threw his controller down in disgust.
"Man, who thought you'd pull a Desperation move on me?"
"Uno mass?"
"You bet your Medaparts we're going for another one."
The two continued to play until after eleven. By now, Ikki was starting to doze off and his mom was sitting, watching the match and drinking coffee. The rainstorm was still going strong and huge chunks of hail had begun falling. So the last thing they were expecting was the doorbell ringing. Ikki stood up sleepily and opened the door.
"Brass!? What are you doing here?"
"Ikki…Erika is…Missing." Sheena and Metabee switched off the console and rushed over to the door. Brass was having trouble standing up, and she had small dents and scratches in her armour from running through the hail. Ikki put her down on the couch and waited. A few minutes later, she appeared to function normally.
"Alright Brass. What was this about Erika being missing?"
"She put me into recharge mode when we got back from the park. When I woke up, she was gone and had left me a note. It said that she had gone to get the biggest story in her life and that she couldn't bear to wake me up. She said that she would be home by eight and it's past eleven."
"She probably went to interview Larry. Sheena, how far is your house?"
"About five blocks. We can make it in eight minutes. Five if we really floor it."
"But we'd get knocked to pieces in this hail before we got there. What do we do?" As they were deciding on this, the news came on.
"The heavy rainstorm that has been pounding Southern Japan for a while now will clear for five minutes at half past eleven. If you have any urgent business, now is the time to do it." Brass jumped off the couch and opened the door. Ikki woke his mom and told her what was going on. She allowed him to go out, and then fell asleep before they were out of the door.
"Come on slowpokes, we've got three minutes!" Sheena and Brass were a good three feet ahead of Ikki and Metabee.
"Man, those two can move."
"Tell me about it. I've seen some fast Medabots, but they take the cake." They reached Larry's house just as the thunder crashed overhead and the rain poured overhead. Ikki tried to open the door. It was locked. Sheena pushed him out of the way and dug something out from her armour. She pulled out a key and unlocked the door, pointing them inside. There was screaming from the living room, and Brass immediately ran in.
"Hold on Erika, I'll save…you." Ikki and the two Medabots followed her and when they got inside, the TV was showing a rerun of Scream three. But what surprised them even more was what was on the couch. Their reactions were different. Brass was content with just staring in amazement. Metabee made that strange "Chi-Chi-Chi" sound he made when he was angry or excited. Sheena slapped her forehead and dragged her hand over her face. Ikki simply sweatdropped. Sheena finally stirred and took them out.
"You can't get home in this weather. Ikki can take Larry's room since he won't want to move tonight. Bee boy and Steel can share my room." Now it was Brass's turn to sweatdrop.
"My name is Brass."
"Whatever. C'mon, let's leave those two alone."
Today's Robattle. Larry wins Erika using a scary movie and extra large pizza.