Chapter 5

Smile, You're On Robo-Camera!

An hour after the meeting in the Rubber Robo hideout, the high noon sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky, a calmness set upon the countryside like a warm blanket. On the dry summer earth a pair of villains, Gillgirl and Shrimplips, sneaked in the shadows of an old willow tree in an otherwise tree-less field, with a single goal-to take a picture of the heroes of this story, the Meda-morphs.

Shrimplips fiddled around with his neon green Kodak camera, his back propped up against the tree trunk, while Gillgirl sat cross legged beside him, plotting how to put their plan in action before the Meda-morphs could come by.

Suddenly, Shrimplips grinned at Gillgirl mischievously. He directed the camera towards Gillgirl, and chimed, "Say macaroni and cheese!"

Gillgirl reflexively turned her head towards Shrimplips, froze, then gasped as the camera's shutters flashed together, a blinding light filling her vision like a plague.

Gillgirl growled ferally, dots dancing in front of her eyes. The woman stood up shakily and boomed demonically, "You're an idiot, you know that!"

Shrimplips winced, then shot back bravely, "Hey, at least I'm not afraid of seeing myself on a picture! My god, just because your ugly and an old hag, doesn't mean you should have a fear for cameras!"

The dots that invaded her vision were replaced with fire. Gillgirl shrieked, "I'm not a hag, you big constipated baby!"

That set Shrimplips off as well. "I'm not constipated! I just have...an active bladder, stupid!
And that's not even what constipated means!"

"Well, that's what you are, you're afraid you'll spring a leak if you don't wear a diaper, since you haven't pissed since a few hours ago, and before that, a few weeks!" Gillgirl declared angrily.

"You take that back!" shouted Shrimplips.

"Make me, shorty," snapped Gillgirl.

"That's it!" Tropical Storm Shrimplips then collided with Hurricane Gillgirl, and with it catastrophic consequences.

Shrimplips, with surprising strength, wrestled Gillgirl to the ground. At that point any morals the two valued were tossed aside like garbage, as the kicked, scratched, punched, and even bit each other, trying to send the other into submission. At that point, neither of them cared if the Meda-morphs saw them enough, which would have likely happened since they were making quite a scene, all they cared about was beating the living tar out of each other.

Then, quite suddenly, the eye of the storm passed over them and the fight paused. Panting and coughing with tiredness, the two glared each other down icily.

"Bed-wetter," snorted Gillgirl, wiping the dripping blood from her nose on her sleeve.

The eye had passed, and Shrimplips went bright scarlett. He tackled Gillgirl once more, but she was prepared; she caught him and thew him to the ground roughly.

CRACK!

Time stopped for Shrimplips and Gillgirl. The short man looked down at his pocket, and shakily placed his hand in it. He felt thousands of shattered glass and plastic, as well as thin strips of plastic as well, which was actually the film from the now dismembered camera.

"Uh-oh..." whispered Shrimplips slowly.

"What...now?" asked Gillgirl.

"The camera broke..." gulped Shrimplips. He pointed at Gillgirl accusingly, and shouted, "And it's all your fault!"

"What!" gawked Gillgirl, "No, it's not! You challenged me!"

"Well, you're the one who continued it!" hissed Shrimplips.

They both growled at each other angrily, the tnesion between them crackling with the energy of a thunderstorm. Finally, after giving each other death glares for a long time, Gillgirl sighed, and looked away.

"This ain't worth it," she muttered softly.

"So, do you finally see that I'm unbeatable?" Shrimplips asked smugly, sticking out his chest proudly.

"No," the woman hissed, "I could take you anytime, anywhere, but we have a job to do, and we don't have time for our petty fights!"

The shorter man's chest deflated. "Oh," he stated with disappointment, then said in a normal tone, "But how can we do it now? We don't even have a camera that works!"

Gillgirl smirked. "Not for long, we won't," she said reassuringly.


The hot summer sun beat down on them like a boxer, and after walking far into the afternoon, the Meda-morphs had decided to take a rest in the shade of the same willow tree that Gillgirl and Shrimplips had feuded under not long before. During their rest, SumiliKoji couldn't find it in himself to relax, so he went over some of his fighting techniques instead. NeutraKarin was playing with some orange fish by a nearby stream, while Rokusho was taking a nap in the willow tree.

Sailor Erika and Meta-Ikki, meanwhile, were laying underneath Rokusho's sleeping tree. Meta-Ikki's was sleeping soundlessly. Sailor Erika watched the black-haired Meda-morph curiously, deep in thought.

I...don't understand it… muttered Erika.

What, Miss Erika? asked Brass.

I…can't get rid of this feeling inside me, answered Erika.

What's wrong? Are you sick?

No, Erika started softly, It's just...whenever I see Meta-Ikki, he makes me feel...good inside, you know? It hard to explain…it just…feels…warm.

Maybe, Brass said thoughtfully, It's love.

What! exclaimed Erika, No way! What makes you say that?

Well, Brass explained, Because…I...feel the same, too. And what else could it be?

Well, uh Erika stuttered, then fell silent.


Meta-Ikki felt like he was floating weightlessly in outer space, in deep and eternal blackness, but somehow knew he wasn't truly in space because he could see any twinkling stars or planets accompanying him. In front of him, he suddenly observed a dark, foreign room, though it felt vaguely familiar. He witnessed helplessly the vision of eight tubes filled with sickly green liquid form in front of him. He saw four Medabots and four children fade into them, as well as five men and three women dressed in white suits staring up at them. He then saw the medabots slowly melt away, and as this happened, the children seemed to undergo a transformation, forming metal limbs and similarities to the Medabots that had disappeared. Meta-Ikki glanced towards the eight adults.

"Way to go!" One man smiled.

"The experiment was a complete success!" smirked a female.

Conversations grew between the people, when suddenly, one of the test subjects' optics opened. Meta-Ikki felt a tug towards the child, deep inside the pit of his very being.

His eyes were a familiar emerald green, and the experiment looked around groggily. He looked at his hands, and his optics widened in shock. What...happened to me? He wondered. Somehow Meta-Ikki could hear his pondering, but it felt as if he were thinking it himself. He held a great deal of empathy for the experiment.

The child in the tube looked around himself once more, and saw a horrific sight. The child's friends were quite different than before. They barely looked the same, but at the same time…they were. What happened to them! Suddenly, hearing the child's inner voice, Meta-Ikki knew why the child tugged at his soul—the experiment was himself.

Vision Meta-Ikki looked in front of himself, and saw the scientists, who paid no mind to him. Why would they? They didn't care about him, or his friends. His optics narrowed, glowing eerily. How could they do this to them! What did they ever do to them to deserve this! They're evil, he thought, Pure evil.

He looked over himself once more, then to his left side, where his optics gazed upon a girl with shoulder length brown hair and a bow placed neatly on her head.

Erika... one part of him thought.

Brass… another thought.

Rage built inside himself, threatening to boil over; he closed his optics in an effort to hold it in. They can't do this…I won't let them! No more…they'll let her go…let her go…let her go…

"Let her go..." he felt himself mumbling, then releasing his rage bellowed, "Let her go!" his optics flung open, glowing brightly and dangerously. Even underneath the plate of his back his medal glowed with radiance.

The scientists glared at him in a mix of confusion, panic, and rage.

"He's using the Medaforce!" one of the girls hissed.

"Stop him!" a man yelled out.

Suddenly the tube caging Vision Meta-Ikki cracked and exploded, and the green goop and shared of glass flying everywhere. Then, almost like an old broken movie, Meta-ikki saw himself suddenly flash from his tube over to him jumping out the window, the other three experiments held securely in his strong arms. Then, it flashed one last time, to the child collapsing by a river, grass padding his hard landing, after carefully placing down his friends. His optics shut tight as a drum. Then, Meta-Ikki was pulled from the vision and the darkness of space returned.


Meta-Ikki's green optics snapped open, panic and fear filling them to the brim, panting wildly. He gaped around himself rapidly, only to see that everyone was now peacefully resting underneath the willow tree, excluding Rokusho, for he was sleeping in it.

...What does this mean...?


"Are you sure this camera will work, Gillgirl?" questioned Shrimplips. He and his female partner in crime were currently positioned behind a bush quite close to where the Meda-morphs were resting. "I mean, it got pretty banged up when we took it from…"

"Of course it will," hissed Gillgirl, "That kid had it coming to him, for questioning my beauty before! Besides, it has four pictures to take in it, that's enough."

"I see...well, remind me next time we need to steal something from a kid, I'll remember not to get you to do it." Shrimplips snickered, pointing at Gillgirl's slowly bruising cheekbone.

The woman scowled at Shrimplips in embarrassment, placed a gloved hand over her tender face, but remained for once silent.

The pair spied out from the bushes, and they saw that the Meda-morphs were still sleeping peacefully underneath the willow tree. Perfect, Gillgirl thought, grinning wickedly, while grasping onto the rusty teal camera. "Let's go,"

Shrimplips and Gillgirl tiptoed out of the mulberry bush and crept towards to the willow tree, silent as the dead. The woman grinned, chuckling cruelly, as one by one she took pictures of every Meda-morph on his or her own. Suddenly, Meta-Ikki's jerked awake, and sat up shakily as if he had been stuck with a hot poker in his back. Panic could be read in his optics. He looked to his left side, just after Gillgirl and Shrimplips took his picture, the last picture, and bolted behind the bush just in time.

That's funny, the Meda-morph pondered, I could of sworn...nah.


"That...was close," panted Shrimplips, his heart racing with adrenaline as he collapsed behind the bush.

"At least...we have the photos," sighed Gillgirl, also panting hard, crouched over on her knees.

They soon caught their breath, and cast corrupt grins at each other.

"Let's get out of here."

"Good idea,"


"Whoa!" gawked Seaslug, "You weren't kiddin'!" he flashed through the photos of the Meda-moprhs over and over again, blinking repeatly as if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Gillgirl and Shrimplips grinned at each other, then the short man asked skeptically, "So...now you believe us?"

"Uh...sure, I guess I do," stuttered Seaslug, stilled overcome with shock.

"So, how about it?" asked Gillgirl, "Now that you know we're not liars,"

Seaslug sat in his chair for a while, deep in though. He answered slowly, "...Fine, you can 'hang' out with them. But your plan better work,"

Shrimplips smirked. "Don't worry, boss, it will,"

To Be Continued...

A/N: MANY apologies for the lack of updates…I've been quite busy as of late, and my internet crapped out on me for 2 months. Gah. But, I hope to update more regularly…for this and my other fics.