The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives.
Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan
Author's Note: This fic is the prologue to The Will of the Medafighter fanfic. It tells how Larry first acquired Sheena, and the events that occurred before he ended up in Japan for the World Robattle Championship. Oh yeah, I apologise for the first two chapters. I know they're kind of dull and rushed, but it gets better, I promise.
Chapter One: A Choice Purchase
Jane looked up at the young man who came into her store. She had opened her junkyard/Medabot store two weeks ago, and so far she had seen much more action on the junk side of things than anyone buying Medaparts. South Africa was still fairly new to Medabots, and the only other customers she had so far was a group of two teenagers who had taken one look at her parts and walked off, claiming that they could order better parts from overseas. She had muttered, "Stuck up idiots" as they left.
Her customer came inside and she could see he was probably about fifteen. His dark brown hair was untidy, and was growing past his collar. He had a friendly, intelligent face, which was looking around with interest at the parts showcased on the walls. She tossed her braided black hair back over her shoulder and smiled.
"Can I help you?"
He looked to her, and she noticed that his eyes were the darkest blue she had ever seen, bordering on violet. "Yeah, I was hoping you had an old Medabot lying around here. I don't want to spend too much on one, and the toy stores are a little too pricey for me."
Jane thought briefly, and then looked around behind the counter. She found what she was looking for and brought out a battered, dull yellow Medabot.
"There we go. Someone brought this in to me just last week. It's a pretty old model, called Metabee. It has twin Seeker missile launchers on its head and a laser cannon on the right arm. The man who brought it in told me it fell out of his car. The medal survived, but he thought the body was too damaged to use again. I fixed it up slightly, and with a bit more work, it should be as good as new."
"How much?" His voice sounded eager, excited.
"Well, I'll throw in the repairs for free, so how does three hundred bucks sound?"
"You can let me have it for that much?"
"Unfortunately, you'll have to buy a medal for it."
"I've got one, don't worry. How long will the repairs take?"
"Come back in an hour, it will be finished by then."
He looked down at his feet and scratched the back of his head.
"Would you mind of I stayed and watched you? If I want to start robattling, I'll need to know how to fix up Medabots. I'm pretty good with tools, but I could always learn more."
"Sure," She held out her hand. "My name's Jane. Nice to meet you."
He took it and gave it a firm squeeze. "Larry Linford, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Larry watched the girl go to work on the old Medabot. She explained the basic inner workings of the robot to him as she worked on knocking the dents out of the armour. The Medabot now looked a little more capable of doing something when actually activated.
"There," She stood up and wiped a thin sheet of sweat from her forehead. "It should run as well as ever. Now, where's that medal?"
Larry dug in his pocket and brought out a medal. It was shining brightly in the fluorescent lights and it was the strangest medal Jane had ever seen. She took it in her palm and looked at the one side. At the top, it had a Hercules beetle's head, and around the middle, there was a thin line of rust and it ended in the tail of a mermaid. She flipped it over, and instead of the smooth back of usual medals, it was bubbled with corrosion.
"I'm sorry to tell you this Larry, but this looks like a fake."
"It does? Why?"
"Well, it has parts of two different medals on it. See, a Hercules Beetle and a Mermaid. As far as I know, there is no such medal."
"Would you mind just trying it?"
"Alright."
She opened the cover at the back of the Metabee's body and slotted the medal in. It clicked into place with no problem, and all that was left to do now would be to jump-start the battery. It would only take about two minutes. While they were waiting, Larry asked her what difference the medals made.
"Well, apart from the personality traits, it also influences the qualities of your Medabot. Hercules Beetle medals give you a Medabot that is very skilled in using weaponry like lasers and suited to offence. Mermaid medals gives a Medabot slightly higher defence and the ability to heal itself. Ghost medals give high evasion abilities..."
She didn't get much further, because the Medabot suddenly jerked as the battery was fully charged. She disconnected the cable and handed Larry the Medawatch for the Metabee.
"You can probably take it home now. If anything goes wrong, or that medal gives you any problems, come back and see me. If, for some reason, it does work, come by in any case. I'd like to meet it."
"Thanks Jane. I appreciate everything you've done for me"
Larry strapped the Medawatch on in place of his old watch and hoisted his new (Old?) Medabot underneath his arm and left the junkyard.