Chapter Three: The Taste of Victory
"Please, stop that, you're hurting my Medabot!"
The Bills were engaging in their usual holiday fun, namely hanging around the park and picking on anyone who looked weaker than them. It was once again going well, as they had defeated three other Medabots so far. Now, Hank was watching his Medabot repeatedly bang an eleven-year old boy's Medabot's head against the ground. The only problem was that a robattle was never initiated, and the Medabot had already ceased to function. Truly, it was a situation that filled the three of them with pleasure.
That was, until a missile from out of nowhere struck his Medabot and blew it off its defenceless opponent. As the trio swung around, they spotted the yellow Metabee they had demolished at school. Smoke was still hanging around from a recent Seeker blast.
Sheena (Metabee)
Speciality: Shooting/Seeker Missiles/Healing
Type: KBT Kabuto Beetle - Type
Medal: ???
Medafighter: Larry Linford
"Hey, how about you pick on someone who can fight back."
Jeff laughed. "Oh, you're back for more? As far as I can see, all that's changed is your name. Well get this, you antique. You're still nothing. Zero, nada, zip!" As he said each word, he mimed a zero with his thumb and forefinger.
His wallowing was broken up by a voice coming from behind a tree. "An antique, you say? Now, now Jeff, no need for insults." Larry stepped into view, looking relaxed. "I remember saying that after I fixed her, I'd be back for you. So, how about it?"
"Oh, you're a big man now. Finally got her to listen to you?"
"You still haven't answered my question. You wouldn't happen to be scared, would you?"
Jeff's anger suddenly got the better of him. "I'm going to make sure there's nothing left of that Medabot when I'm done. Nunchar, go!"
"Sheena, evade left and fire. Target his legs, we need to slow him down."
Nunchar spun around and swung his sword at Sheena, which she quickly dodged. The sword dug itself into the ground and Sheena's rapid burst of laser fire caught it on the leg parts. Even with the damage, Nunchar easily evaded her next burst.
"You see?" Jeff shouted at Larry. "Your Medabot is too slow, it can't keep up. Nunchar, Shuriken shower!"
Nunchar appeared behind Sheena and fired three shurikens in quick succession. Sheena blasted two to the ground, but one caught her on the leg, knocking her to the floor.
"Alright Nunchar, finish her with a mirage attack."
"Sheena, don't move, alright? Stay put."
Nunchar's mirage manoeuvre was a dangerous technique, and Larry had seen it knock many Medabots out in one swoop. In it, Nunchar sped in a circle around his opponent, seemingly splitting into three different copies of himself. While his opponent frantically tried to attack the shadow images, Nunchar built up more power. Finally, all the images darted in, converging back into one, and Nunchar struck with an overhead sweep, pretty much destroying his opponent.
He started this ritual in the same manner, and Larry knew he had about forty seconds before the move hit. Nunchar split into three images, and Sheena tried to land a shot on them. None of her blasts hit.
"Larry, what now?"
"Hold on Sheena, I'm working on something."
"Well, work faster! I am not losing to this idiot again."
Larry looked at his medawatch, trying to see something that could help him. "Slow, three frames a second." The Nunchars slowed on his medawatch, blurring back into one. "Pause." He saw Nunchar pause for a fraction of a second to charge more power into his sword. "Play again. Display target speed and time lapse." Every half-second, Nunchar paused to charge, his speed dropping from one hundred and twenty miles an hour to one.
"Sheena! Face forward, and ready laser cannons."
"Yeah, sure. One problem, I'm down to one shot."
"Don't worry, one shot is all you'll need. On my mark, aim at leg height and fire. Now!"
The shot went off, and a dull metal clang echoed through the park. The whirl of dust that had been Nunchar a second ago was now gone. Instead, Nunchar was speeding through the air and connected headlong with one of the metal swings. Sheena's shot had managed to knock the fragile balance of his rapidly moving legs out of sync, resulting in a hundred and twenty miles of speed suddenly changing to the world's fastest ever stumble.
Jeff began screaming at his critically damaged Medabot. "Nunchar! Fire shurikens, blow her to bits!"
"Evade, Sheena! Worm pattern!"
"No way, not the Worm," She looked up to see about a dozen shurikens coming for her. "Oh man!" She dived forward, skidding on her stomach, the shurikens passing over her. She leapt to her feet some two feet from Nunchar and cracked her knee into his head as she went by.
"Okay, let's finish this. Sheena, Seeker Missiles!"
"Yeah-Yeah!"
Sheena skidded to halt, and flipped around. Two puffs of smoke came from her launchers and two missiles came flying out. They struck Nunchar, and it keeled over. The medal ejected, making a small tinkling sound as it hit the path.
Nunchar: One hundred Percent damage. Function ceased.
Larry and Sheena looked at each other, both content with their victory. However, Jeff, who yelled at his teammates, quickly broke it.
"Are you two just going to stand there!? If we let that punk leave in one piece, we'll be the laughing stock of the school! Get him!"
Kara transported in her own Medabot, whilst Hank's quickly came over from where it had been standing since Sheena had blown it away.
"Oh boy, get ready Sheena. These guys aren't meaning to let us leave here."
"I'm ready for them, but what about my ammunition crisis?"
"Easy. I'll transport you some more. They haven't started a robattle yet, so I won't be breaking any rules," Larry tapped a few buttons on his medawatch, and five bright lights surrounded her laser cannon, refilling it.
"Ahh, much better. Maybe I should heal myself as well."
"You can do that?"
"Sure. See that little indicator on the screen? Those are the amount of charges I have left. Watch."
A bright green light surrounded her for a few seconds, and when it vanished, her damage was instantly removed.
"Alright, let's take them. Yo, which of you two bozos am I going to be wiping the floor with next?"
Hank stepped forward. "Me. And don't get too cocky, cause I'll give you more than you bargained for. Granitedon, take care of this."
Granitedon was a huge, rhino shaped Medabot, probably as tall as his medafighter, and just as strong. It was quite slow, but the punch it packed was not to be laughed at. One solid strike from it could easily shatter the body of the unfortunate target.
GranitedonSpeciality: Body Tackle attack
Type: RHN – Rhino Type
Medal: Cyclops
Medafighter: Hank
Granitedon revved its tracked wheels and lunged forwards at Sheena. She easily sidestepped it and fired a Seeker at Granitedon's exposed back. It exploded, but when the smoke cleared, there wasn't a scratch on it.
"Sheena, the armour is too thick for any of your weapons to penetrate. Can you see something else?"
"I'll check, just give me a few minutes."
Larry looked up from the battle as Hank started laughing. "And just what is so funny?"
"You're depending on your Medabot to tell you what to do. What kind of medafighter are you?"
"One who trusts his Medabot. Anything yet Sheena?"
"Nope. Only thing that looks weird is the tracks. Seems Hank over there forgot to give his Medabot a check-up in the last few months. They've come loose slightly."
An idea suddenly hit him. "Sheena, lead him over to that embankment by the pond. We're about to see if Granitedon floats or sinks."
Sheena jumped as Granitedon sped up because of the slope and nearly ran her down. I hope Larry knows what he's doing. That thing missed me by the skin on my teeth…Well, he would have if I had any.
"Larry, you still there? This thing is getting ready to turn me into roadkill."
His voice now came in over the medawatch, as the battle had taken them far from the medafighters.
"Alright, can you get a lock on the bolts holding the tracks to his wheels?"
"Sure. Mind telling me the plan?"
"The ground is very slippery down there. You might be able to stand there, as well as Granitedon, as long as he keeps his tracks on. But, what do you think would happen if those wheels started skidding on the embankment?"
As she drew a bead on Granitedon, who was charging her down, she clicked. "Oh, I get it. Hey, pal, that's a pretty deep pond. Hope you learnt how to doggie-paddle."
She spoke these words as she fired her laser burst. It hit all along the left track, and it blew off, leaving two smooth alloy wheels trying to keep traction on the slope. With the imbalance on the left side, the right side tried to compensate. But, as it tipped towards the pond, Sheena helped Granitedon down with a shoulder barge.
She started walking back towards her medafighter after hearing a very satisfying splash. "Two down, one to go. You're not too bad at this, you know that Larry?"
Larry chuckled softly. "Hope the people down in hell have blanketed up. Sheena just gave me a compliment."
Larry looked from Sheena coming up the embankment, back to the Bills, two of who were sporting very unhappy expressions. But, he knew the real challenge was still ahead.
Kara had an extremely average Medabot, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was the fact that she was able to pick apart her opponent's strategies and strengths, while focussing on their weak points. Her entire battle plan was based on being able to interpret her opponent's next move.
She smiled scornfully at Larry. "Hope you can wait for a few minutes before losing. I need to discuss something with Fellyne"
"Sure, take all the time you need."
He crouched down and conferred with Sheena. "I told you about her, right?"
Sheena nodded, looking over to Kara, who was whispering to Fellyne and gesturing in their general direction.
"Yeah, the brainiac. The one who's supposed to be able to figure out what my next move will be. So, how do we beat her?"
"We can't."
"Say WHAT? Are you telling me there's no way we can beat her?"
Larry smiled in a slightly morose way as he regarded his Medabot. "Well, I can't. I don't have enough experience to out-think her. Maybe in a few months, but right now, I don't have a chance. But, that doesn't mean YOU can't beat her."
"Mind running that be me one more time? You can't beat her, but I can?"
"That's right. She's probably seen all the things I can do as your medafighter, so we'll lose if I go in commanding you. But, I'm not going to be giving any orders; you're going to be battling on your own. I think you're the most impulsive, unpredictable Medabot I've ever seen, and this time I mean it in a good way."
"I see where you're going with this. You think that going in without a single planned move will give us the edge we need. That it? Well, it won't be too difficult. Don't worry Larry; I'm not about to lose on number ninety-nine."
With that, she got up from her sitting position and strode out to meet Fellyne. Fellyne was a cat shaped Medabot, with jagged claws protruding from each hand. The problem with average Medabots were, as Larry knew, they had no particular strengths, but it also made it near impossible to find a weakness.
FellyneSpeciality: Cat Claw Combo
Type: FLN Cat – Type
Medal: Queen
Medafighter: Kara
Fellyne pointed one claw at Sheena. "I hope you're not really getting your hopes up about beating me. My medafighter has never been out-thought in a robattle."
Sheena shrugged, not taking her eyes off her opponent. "Remember what they say, girlfriend. The longer a good thing has been going on, the harder the fall is going to be. Now get that claw out of my face, unless you want to lose it."
"I've seen over a hundred victories, and when I do lose one day, it isn't going to be to a museum piece like you."
Kara listened to this exchange with an expression of mild amusement. She had been analysing Larry's style for the past two battles, and had to admit he showed some skill.
But, she was still better.
"Larry, I've got to compliment you. It's not every medafighter who gets past these two to fight me. However, I'm afraid this is the end of the road."
Larry, instead of responding, merely plopped down on the ground, leaning his back against the tree. He looked like he was ready to take a leisurely nap instead of robattle. He smiled a smile that was a trifle too wide to be fake, and Kara suddenly felt a little a little of her confidence evaporate.
"And what are you doing? Are you just going to give up?"
"I might as well, I mean, you DO have my entire battle plan figured out. Would it help if I change my strategy?"
Kara felt her confidence return. He was just being smart, knowing he couldn't beat her. "You could try, but you wouldn't really be using a different strategy. Once a medafighter chooses a style, he never really deviates from it."
"Well, that's too bad. What, oh what shall I do?" He paused momentarily to remove his medawatch, before continuing. "Hypothetically, Kara, suppose this: You've got my style figured out completely, right? In fact, the only thing teeming throughout your mind is how to counter every one of MY moves. What would happen if a completely different medafighter jumped in right now?"
Kara threw her head back and laughed. "Yes, in a hypothetical world, where it could happen, I suppose I would be badly beaten. After all, even my mind can't calculate that fast. But, this is no hypothetical world. Now, I'll just trounce your Medabot and be on my way."
Larry nodded. "True, this isn't a hypothetical world. But, Kara, there is another person whose about to fight you, and there's no way you'll have enough time to counter their strategy."
With a fake look of fear on her face, she replied, "Oh, where is this terrible person? Are you about to break the rules and let someone else interfere? Go ahead, and prove what an amateur you are. Where are you, my mystery opponent?"
At this, Sheena launched herself at Fellyne, yelling, "Right here, miss Ego!"
Fellyne had enough time to throw up an arm to block Sheena's attack, but her opponent's strike still had enough force behind it to knock her to the ground. Then. Sheena was on her, hammering away at Fellyne's head with her fists.
"Yeah, how do you like that? Not so much fun when you're the one at the bottom."
Fellyne managed to scramble out from underneath Sheena, and ran to Kara. "What are you trying to do, Kara? You're just standing there. Tell me what to do!"
"I…Give me some time. I wasn't expecting this."
It was true enough. Larry's plan had caught her completely offside, and she wasn't prepared for the change in tactics. But, she thought, how much imagination could a simple Medabot have?
"Yo, Cat-Girl, heads up!"
Sheena was once more barrelling straight for Fellyne, and suddenly Kara understood. This Medabot was too hotheaded to have a strategy, so her main advantage had slipped away. She would have to fight in a way she detested – On the fly.
"Fellyne, swerve right and counter with a grappling attack."
Fellyne cut to the right, avoiding a rapid discharge of laser fire from Sheena, before veering back in and grasping her around the waist. With one heave, she sent Sheena flying a short distance before crashing into the ground.
"Now, Fellyne, finish her off with a claw combo!"
Fellyne was airborne, and before Sheena could react, Fellyne was pounding her with four solid right punches. She staggered up, but Fellyne landed the final hit of her combo, namely a double fisted blow to her head. She dropped to her knees, seemingly defeated.
"Yes! No KBT type could stand up to that attack. Well Larry, where's your brilliant plan gotten you?"
Larry mimed a yawn. "I think you're celebrating a little too early. Take a look."
She followed the direction of his pointing, which led back to his Medabot. Sheena was back up. Battered? Yes. Bruised? Definitely. Beaten? Hell no!
Kara watched Sheena get up, her mouth agape. She quickly barked a command into her medawatch.
"List statistics for standard Metabee and Metabee registered as Sheena."
The statistics were all normal, except that when it came to matching the defence statistic, the medawatch let out a loud beep and displayed the following message: Error in matching defence values. Standard Metabee: 130 – Sheena: 170
"What's causing this?"
Defence increase is standard to Medabots equipped with the Mermaid medal. However, probability of Mermaid medal inside Sheena is one in three thousand. All other attributes are modelled after a Metabee with the recommended medal: Hercules Beetle.
"No, that can't be possible. What did he do to his Medabot?"
Before she could do anything else, Fellyne struck the ground next to her. Sheena stood at the other end of the playground, dusting off her hands. As she looked down, Fellyne's medal ejected and her medawatch beeped the irrevocable proof that she had just lost.
Fellyne: 100% damage. Function Ceased.
Larry quietly breathed a sigh of relief that no one saw. Despite his lackadaisical approach to the last battle, he had been worried about Sheena. But, she had not disappointed him. Now, he ran over to his Medabot and grabbed her, lifting her up in the air.
"You did it! Sheena, we beat them!"
She replied in an annoyed tone, but Larry could tell she was as pleased as he was. "Yo, pal, you're ruining my image here. Now, how about we go home and celebrate."
"I'll do you one better. Let's go to Jane's and get you fixed up. And who knows, there might be a new part in it for you."
"Whoa, two great ideas in the last twenty-four hours. Slow down, Larry. You shouldn't tax yourself this much."
Larry laughed softly, all the tension of the last hour lifting from his shoulders. "Walk, before I decide to trade you in for an electric scooter. They're faster, can take you places, and they don't think they're comedians,"
As he walked past Kara, he stopped. She was busy replacing Fellyne's medal. "I think you're an extremely gifted medafighter, Kara. I just wish you would act like one. What you're doing now…It isn't going to get you anywhere."
She looked at him, and he was shocked to see that she was crying. "Don't think you're great just because you beat me. When you're not looking, I'll make sure that you regret this. Now, get out of here."
Larry shrugged. "Do you even still enjoy being a medafighter? From what I've seen, you've lost sight of the most important part of robattles: Fun."
"Get out of here!"
Hank called from where he was standing. "Is that punk giving you trouble, Kara? I'll level him if you want."
"No, Hank. He was just leaving."
Larry turned to leave, but before he did, he spoke one last time. "I'll be happy to fight you again one day. In fact, if you fight fairly, and as Kara the medafighter, instead of Kara of the Bills, I would consider it an honour. But, that's just a suggestion. Sheena, let's go!"
With that, the victorious Larry left, head held high and his Medabot beside him. It was their first victory as a team, and who knew how many might still lie ahead.