The Will Of The Medafighter

Chapter Four: The RubberRobo Gang strikes!

Larry woke up to the sound of his electric wristwatch's beeping. He looked around drowsily, lightly slid out from under Erika, and went into the kitchen. Sheena was already on her usual place, sitting on the counter. She handed him a cup of coffee.

"Hey Larry. Sleep well?"

"Like a rock. What time did you get back?"

"About half past eleven last night. I take it the interview went well." Larry reddened and tried to change the topic.

"This coffee is great. You're one of the only Medabots I know who can brew a good cup." Sheena spotted this dodge. She had been with Larry for more than two years now, and she could read him like a book. If she had any eyebrows, she would have raised the left one slightly like he did whenever he knew something was up. So she contented herself with folding her arms.

"Thanks. Your friends think so too."

"My friends…" Sheena's eyes rounded in amusement and nodded in the direction of the table. Larry turned and he promptly dropped the cup and his jaw as well. Ikki sat at the table, a cup of coffee in hand and staring at him with slight smile on his face. Next to him was Metabee, who looked ready to burst out laughing. But it was the Medabot opposite Metabee that surprised him most. He had only glanced at the Sailor-Multi type briefly during his talk with Ikki in the park. That same Medabot was now staring at him with slightly narrowed eyes. He snapped out of it and stared at Sheena.

"When did they get here?"

"Thy came with me last night. Your girlfriend's Medabot came to Ikki's house in a flap, yelling about Erika going missing. So, like the good pilgrims we were, the three of us came here with her during a brief lull in the storm."

"Sheena…Can you make me another cup of coffee?" She jumped and slapped him on the back.

"Fine, but you owe me then." Larry sat down at the table while Sheena made him some more coffee. Ikki drank down the last of his.

"So, you and Erika are dating?"

"Maybe. We haven't even talked about it yet. And you, what's so funny?" Metabee couldn't keep it in anymore, and fell on the kitchen floor.

"Man, I can't believe it! Erika…Having a boyfriend!"

"And what's so funny about that?" Metabee stopped laughing the moment he heard that voice, a slight fear growing. Erika was standing in the doorway, with a look of extreme annoyance on her face. She kissed Larry on the cheek and pulled Ikki up by his ear.

"First off, teach your Medabot some manners. Secondly, we've got to go to the school. I need this interview ready to go on Monday. Larry, can I ask you to take care of Brass for me?"

"Yeah sure. Why?"

"It'll only take a while, so she doesn't have to go running all over the place with me."

"On one condition. You take Sheena with you. She wants some exercise, but I've got to do some part modifying to do today." Larry went with them to the porch, and only Brass remained. She quietly spoke to herself.

"But what if I wanted to run around with you…?"

Erika, Ikki, Metabee and Sheena walked off down the street to their school. They were unaware however, of the four pairs of eyes watching them from a roof.

"So Seaslug, you're sure this plan will work?"

"Don't sweat it Shrimplips, I've seen it on enough movies. Larry and Sheera, or whatever her name is, are too strong to take on physically. But, we must strike at their mental weaknesses."

"But Seaslug, don't the heroes usually rescue the girl after beating the bad guys to a bloody pulp?"

"It won't happen here. Squidguts, Gillgirl, ready?" They nodded, and the next moment, a huge fishing net landed on Erika. Before Ikki or the two Medabots could do something, the net was hoisted up and loaded onto Rumblejet, a flying Medabot. As they wanted to run after him, two other Rumblejets blocked their way.

Rumblejet

Jet Type Medabot

Medafighter: RubberRobo Gang

Speciality: Flying

The four RubberRobos dropped down in front of them.

"Uh-uh-uh, no following the jet. Hey you, where's your Medafighter?"

"That's none of your business. Now bring Erika back!" Ikki stepped closer, and began to prepare himself for the inevitable battle that lay ahead.

"Why did you take her?"

"Easy. To get at Larry. We'll swap him his girlfriend for his Melded Medal."

"How'd you know about that? I only found out this morning!"

"By bugging him. You should've seen their first kiss, it was so romantic. Well, while we're here, we might as well take your Rare Medal. She can go, because we need her to tell Larry about the ransom." Sheena's emotions boiled over and she shook her fist at the RubberRobos.

"You no-good-cheating-lying bags of dirt! First you cheat at robattles, and now you turn to kidnap? You take them on, you'll have to fight me as well."

"That's great. We'll just pound on you for a while, and then finish Metabee." Ikki crouched next to Sheena.

"Can you robattle without Larry?"

"Yes, but not to the best of my abilities. I've sent a distress signal to his Medawatch, and with any luck he'll be here in a few minutes…"

Larry was crouched over a workbench in the garage of his house. With sweat dripping down the sides of his face, he soldered the last part down. He lifted the Medapart off the bench and examined it carefully. He had made some adjustments to Sheena's left Laser Cannon, and it was now able to fire EMP pellets. This would come in useful with disrupting any Seeker type weapons. Brass was sitting on the seat of his motorcycle and staring at the arm. Earlier, she had grilled him about what had happened the previous night, and he told her. She was finally happy and started taking an interest in his building. Larry held the part out to her.

"Want to try it?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, don't be shy. Sheena's parts should fit in well with yours." Larry quickly transported the part and Brass fired a few rounds at the targets lying around. With some reluctance, she let Larry take it back. He then tried some other parts on her. Their testing was interrupted by Larry's Medawatch. One look at the message, and his face went grave.

"What is it?"

"Ikki, Sheena and Metabee are in trouble. They've been attacked by the RubberRobos. Ever ride a motorbike before?"

"No."

"Well, it's time to learn. Let's go." Larry grabbed Brass by her arm and put her on the back of his bike. He then opened the door and raced to the origin of Sheena's signal…

"They're too fast. Our shots aren't hitting them, and the seekers are too slow." Ikki looked on as Sheena and Metabee were being outmanoeuvred by the Rumblejets. Suddenly, the two launched huge volleys of missiles at the two Metabees. Neither could get out of the way fast enough, and Ikki grimaced as the explosion rocked the ground.

"Warning. Metabee- Left arm 80% damage. Sheena- Body 75% damage."

"Sheena! Friendly fire manoeuvre!" Larry and Brass came skidding down the hill, and Sheena was never gladder to see Larry.

"Gotcha! Okay you flying tin cans, try and catch me!" Sheena rushed forward and dodged the second volley of missiles. She reached the two Rumblejets and leapt in between them. One fired, but Sheena was already out of harms way. Instead, his comrade got a taste of missiles and crashed to the ground. Seaslug and Shrimplips' faces fell as part of their plan started going down the tubes. Ikki saw that the other Rumblejet was preoccupied with trying to hit Sheena.

"Metabee, use your Seekers before he sees you."

"Booya! Missile Launch!" Two missiles launched from Metabee's launchers and struck the Rumblejet. It fell to the ground and its medal ejected as well. The RubberRobos ran away, but Seaslug shouted these last words.

"You've won this round kid, but we'll have the last laugh."

Larry crouched next to Sheena and checked her damage.

"Hmm, you've been through worse than this. You'll survive. Umm, Ikki, where's Erika?"

"They took her!"

"WHAT!? Those freaks took her! Why?" Sheena knocked him on the head with her fist.

"How you get ninety percent at school, I'll never know. They want to swap her for my medal. If you don't hand it over in the next twenty-four hours…They'll kill her." Brass only heard snatches of the conversation, but the last part was clear enough for her. But why involve her in all of this? No, it can't be because… Her eyes bore into Larry's back, and she felt the closest thing to anger and hate that a Medabot could feel.

Larry rested his head against an old Oak tree next to the road. Within his mind, a tug of war of emotions was taking place. Either he gave away his best friend's soul, or he lost the girl who meant the world to him, even though they had known each other only two days.

"No. No. No. NO!" With each word, he pounded harder on the tree. With his final "NO!" his fist crashed into the tree. Even though it was more than four meters in diameter, it shook visibly and sent the nesting birds into the air. Then, he sank down to the ground, his back to the tree. Metabee tried cheering him up.

"Yo dude, come on! Those bozos can't be serious." Ikki joined in.

"Yeah. They've tried lot's of things before, but they won't stoop to murder." A rustle of bushes to their left made them look up. A RubberRobo jumped out and laughed.

"Oh, we will. The leader wants that medal, and he will do ANYTHING to get it. In fact, she's been crying for you all the way." Larry sprang up faster than anyone could see, and in a split second he had the RubberRobo pinned to the tree.

"Be glad that I'm a pacifist at heart. But my Medabot here isn't." Sheena stuck her laser cannon into his neck.

"That's right pal. I'm mentally unstable because Larry and me are big Bruce Willis fans. So, yippee-ki-yay MotherF…"

"No please! Don't hurt me! I'm only a messenger." Larry calmed down slightly and loosened his grip on the RubberRobo's neck, only to hang him in one of the branches.

"Fine. Give me the message, before I let her loose on you."

"You have to go to the abandoned field that's ten miles out of town. Go there tomorrow night at eight o'clock." Larry pulled him down and threw him over the wall nearby. A vicious barking and growling was then heard from inside. As Larry turned around, Brass pushed Sheena and Metabee out of the way. She was shaking as her words came out.

"You. You got her involved in this! This is your fault." Metabee tried to calm her down by placing his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it and with strength she had never revealed before, chucked him into the tree.

"Hey! Your problem is with me, not with Metabee. And what should I have done?"

"Stayed in your own country. You should never have come here, or gotten near her. I hate you. I HATE YOU!!" Brass lifted her cannons and fired three rounds at Larry in pure rage. They would have met their target, but Sheena wasn't about to let Larry get hurt by a rabid female Medabot. She threw herself in front of him and the bullets ricocheted off her armour. She stood up and pointed both her laser cannons at Brass.

"Hold it right there Sailor Venus. Take one more shot and I will beat you to the ground!" Larry said nothing, and only stared hard at Brass. Brass and Sheena were now pointing their weapons at each other. Ikki and Metabee looked on nervously. Larry finally pushed Sheena out of the way. Then, he crouched in front Brass and lifted her laser cannon. Without flinching, he placed it on his forehead.

"There. If you still need to do it, who's stopping you? Sheena won't make it in time. Stay put Sheena!" Sheena had started moving towards the two. Now she stopped and looked on in horror. Brass held her gun there for another second, and then let it fall.

"I can't do it. But I still hate you."

"You do that. Just don't act like you're the only one who lost someone. I'll admit that it's partly my fault, but I'm not ashamed of what I did." Larry turned to Sheena and slapped her sharply on the back.

"Thanks Sheena. If Ikki can put you up for the night, I'd appreciate it." Ikki nodded.

"Sure. I still owe her for giving me a place to sleep last night. I only have one request."

"Name it."

"Can I see the medal that all this fuss is about?"

"Okay. Sheena, mind if I deactivate you for a while?"

"Yeah. Just remember, they can look, but not touch." Larry shut her down and pulled out the medal. He carefully handed it to Ikki. Ikki was amazed. He had never seen a medal like it. The top of the medal was like Metabee's, a Hercules Beetle. But the bottom part belonged to a Mermaid medal. The back of the medal was scratched and looked like acid had been poured over it. He handed it back to Larry, who reactivated Sheena. Then, he got on his motorbike and left…

Brass felt completely stupid because of her outburst.

"Sheena…"

"What do you want?"

"Where did he go? I want to go apologise to him."

"How do I know you won't try to knock him out without me around?"

"Because I had the chance and I didn't. I understand that he feels like I do about losing Erika, maybe even worse. Please."

"Fine. He's at the Medabot Corporation." Sheena told her where to find it and watched as Brass ran off.

"C'mon Bee boy. I need some training, and you and your friend don't have anything else to do. You just might learn some new tricks." She stepped off on the direction of Ikki's house. Metabee was shaking his fist at her retreating back.

"I don't need any tricks! Hey, don't you turn your back on me! Ooh, she steams my circuits!"

"That's because you've met one of the few people who can match you on attitude. Not only is she the same model, she's a girl."

"Quit your yapping! Let's go show her what Robattling's all about!"

Larry looked out over the rooftops of Japan being bathed in the reddish glow of the afternoon sun. As the sun sank lower, the huge emblem of the Medabot Corporation cast a shadow over the ledge where he was sitting. The roof was one of the few places he felt completely at ease, probably because no one knew he was up here. So it came as a huge surprise when he heard someone calling his name from the other end of the roof. He looked around the corner of the ledge he was sitting on, and spotted Brass. He gave a low whistle, and called her over.

"Who told you where to find me? No wait, nevermind. Remind me to tell Sheena the meaning of secret when I get home."

"Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened before. I know you would never let anything happen to Erika."

"And I don't intend to. If there's no other way…I'll hand over Sheena's medal."

"I hope it won't come to that. Larry, I want to ask you a favour."

"Okay, name it."

"Teach me how to fight properly. Erika never fights Robattles unless she has to, so I'm pretty inexperienced."

"Well, I've got a whole day and Sheena's over at Ikki's place, so why not?"

"Thanks. Friends?"

"Yeah."

Today's Robattle: Ikki and Larry defeat the RubberRobos, but will they have what it takes when it comes to crunch time? What has happened to Erika? And what is the secret behind the Melded Medal?