The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives

Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan

Chapter Five: History Lesson

"Doing this slowly isn't going to work. Larry, just bear with me for another second."

"Just what are you plan...Yow!"

"There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jane tossed the two bloodied shurikens onto the workbench beside her and wiped her hands on a cloth. She had wanted to tend to Larry at once, but he had insisted she fix Sheena first. As a result, the blood had already dried and tissue had started forming again.

This, of course, led to lots of fun when she had to remove them.

Now that they were out, she could finally see the damage. "This isn't too severe, but I'm going to have to disinfect it. You're going to have the scars for a while though, but they won't be noticeable unless someone sees your back from real close. You're extremely lucky, you know that?"

Larry blew out the breath he had been holding in. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Jane giggled. "I'll go get the stuff and patch you right up. And I don't think I'll charge you."

"Thanks Jane, you're a lifesaver."

She stood up and went to her storeroom to find her first-aid kit. While she was gone, Sheena ambled up and took a look at the two hunks of metal lying on the bench.

"Man, those things would have been the end of me. You're one crazy son-of-a-gun, you know that?"

Larry smiled as he replied. "Well, I got a crazy Medabot to go with it. How are you feeling?"

"Me? Good as new. Jane's really good at her job."

Larry was about to reply when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Go see who that is, Sheena."

Sheena hopped off and looked through the glass. She suddenly took a step back. "Oh man. Larry, it's that Alexis chick and her Medabot. They must be here to try and finish what those other two started."

Larry considered for a second, before nodding to himself. "Open up, let them in."

Sheena's voice was incredulous. "Are you stupid? Man, you must have lost more blood than I thought, because your brain is definitely not getting enough oxygen."

"Sheena, let her in. It's pouring outside, and I don't think she'd come out in this weather just to try and beat me."

"Oh," Sheena replied sarcastically. "And what is she doing here then? Selling Girl Scout cookies?"

"Well, we won't know unless you let her in." Larry's eyes suddenly narrowed mischievously. "That is, unless you're scared of Fellyne."

His Medabot spun around and shook her fist at him. "I'm not scared of that pussy cat. Fine, I'll let them in."

She unlocked the door and a sopping wet Alexis and Fellyne stumbled in. Fellyne shook herself down like a dog and looked up at her medafighter.

"Man, I hate this kind of weather."

Alexis ignored her and spotted Larry sitting on the workbench. "Larry? Please tell me that Hank and Jeff were lying about what they did to you."

Sheena spoke from behind the door, making her jump. "What, you mean that they tried to scrap me, while fighting two-on-one, and then performed some interesting vertebrae surgery on my friend with Medabot weapons? Nah, that's just your average made-up story. And from what they told us, you were in on it as well, so just be glad of the fact that Larry told me to leave you two alone."

Alexis and Fellyne both stared at her, shock and surprise on both their faces. Larry could tell it was genuine, and knew that neither had anything to do with what had happened this afternoon.

However, it was clear that Sheena was not going to lay off them. "Don't go acting all surprised. You nearly killed someone this afternoon, Alexis, and for what? A stupid grudge? At least those two had the guts to come here, not like you who waited for the dirty work to be done for you."

Alexis was pretty close to tears now, and Larry had seen enough. "Sheena, stop it."

"M-U-R-D-E-R. What does that spell, kiddies? It spells twenty-five to life..."

"Sheena! Cut it out, right now!" Larry roared at her, his voice echoing sharply through the workshop. She turned from the two and looked at him with ill-concealed anger. Larry motioned for her to come closer. "Look, she didn't know anything about this afternoon, let alone plan it."

"Oh, please. You're just a sucker for a pretty face and a few crocodile tears. You heard what they said, they wouldn't do anything without her permission."

"Please, Sheena, just give her a chance. I want to hear her side of the story. Take Fellyne and go see what's taking Jane so long to get that first-aid kit. I'm not really in the mood for my back to start festering."

"Okay, but if she tries anything, just give a shout and I'll come running. Yo, cat-girl!" She turned to Fellyne. "We've got to go check on something."

Fellyne didn't really seem to be in the mood for listening to Sheena. "Oh, is that a fact? And just what would that be?"

"A few things to fix the damage your friends did to Larry. That is, unless you're scared that I might jump you when your back is turned. Don't worry, this afternoon should have been enough to prove that I can beat you without doing that."

"Why you..." Fellyne was about to spring into action when Alexis's hand dropped on her shoulder. She looked at her medafighter, who nodded.

Sheena saw this and said "Great. Now that you have your permission, are we going to get going?"

"Fine. Alexis, if that guy tries anything, just call me and I'll come running."

The two walked into the storeroom, eyeing each other with such open suspicion, it was actually funny to look at.

Smiling, Larry watched the two leave the room. When they were gone, he pushed himself off the counter and went over to Alexis.

"Here," he said, digging in his pocket and bringing out a creased handkerchief. "Don't worry, it's never been used. It only looks like that because I never bother checking my pockets before washing my clothes."

She gave him a small smile and dried her eyes. "Thanks. Your Medabot is really...Something else."

"Oh, Sheena's very opinionated. I've only had her for five days, but that's one thing I know for sure. Come on, have a seat. That workbench is actually really comfortable, and I promise I won't do anything that will warrant you having to call Fellyne."

When they were seated, she told him how she had found out about what happened. "After you beat me this morning, I had Fellyne repaired and went home. I got there and immediately started working on a way to beat you and Sheena. But, as time went by, I started thinking about what you told me.

"About you not enjoying robattles anymore?"

"That's right. I called Fellyne and asked her if she remembered us robattling before we started our little group."

"And?"

Alexis grinned sadly. "She said: 'I won't lie to you, Alexis. I enjoyed it a lot more back then. If we need to fight for power, I'm not going to argue with that, but it sure as hell isn't any fun.' Turns out she had felt like that for a long time, but didn't want to say anything. Right then I stopped any other planning and decided to do something I hadn't done in a long time."

"What would that be?"

"To relax. I had never taken a few minutes out since those two decided to make me their leader. So there I was, just lying on my bed and enjoying a book, when Hank and Jeff came in. They looked rattled, but also very happy."

"Yeah," Larry replied grimly, looking at the two shurikens still beside him. "When Nunchar blasted me, they had the biggest grins I've ever seen on their faces. Guess it must have been really funny to see a guy get perforated on behalf of a machine."

"Sorry," She replied in a small voice. "I'm serious that I didn't have anything to do with it."

"I believe you, so there's no need to start crying again. Carry on with your story."

"Of course. I was curious about what could have put them in such a good mood, as they were even angrier than me about losing. I asked what had happened, and Jeff told me that they had gone out to get revenge for what had happened this morning. They related the story in great detail, maybe a little too much when it came to your injury."

"I'll bet. They tell you what happened afterwards?"

"They said the owner of the shop called the police and they had to get out. When they finished talking, they looked like they were waiting for me to give them an award or something. Instead, I told them to get the hell out of my house."

"I'm guessing they didn't like that."

"You guessed right."

Outside, the rain had stopped falling, and Alexis got off the workbench. "I'd best be going. Larry, thanks for understanding." Larry walked with her to the door, where she turned to him one last time.

"If they're still willing to listen to me after today, I'll tell them to leave you two alone. Fellyne!" Larry suddenly heard a crash from the storeroom, and a dusty Fellyne, Jane and Sheena emerged. "Let's go, we've kept him long enough."

Larry watched Alexis leave and suddenly had a feeling that their paths might cross in a robattle again someday.

"I've got the first-aid kit now."

Larry hopped back onto the workbench and regarded the dust-covered duo with a mildly sardonic look. "I assume that it was easy to find once you three had had enough of eavesdropping." Jane went red, and Sheena would have, if she could. "Next time you decide to do it, try to talk a little softer amongst yourself."

Sheena shook her head disbelievingly. "You couldn't have heard us. Colombo over there probably just made a lucky guess."

Larry grinned. "Well, if you say so. Oh, and Jane. I do think Alexis and me would make a cute couple, but Sheena was right, in that we might let some sort of rivalry come between us. And I've got to say that Fellyne has an extremely broad vocabulary, considering some of the things she called the two of you."

That silenced both of them, and he spent the next few minutes getting his wound cleaned and bandaged up.

Jane slipped the things back into one of the drawers on the table. "Now, I think I could do with that cup of tea. How about you, Larry?"

"It's called the Medaforce," Jane told them as she stared into the depths of her cup. "The first thing a Medabot requires is a rare medal. After that, there has to be a very strong bond between it and its medafighter. Finally, add a burst of pure emotion and, voila, you get the Medaforce, the strongest attack a Medabot has."

Sheena leapt up at this. "See, Larry? I told you that with me around, you would never have to worry about losing a match."

Jane held up her hand. "You didn't let me finish. Larry, as you saw, all of her power had been drained. If Sheena hadn't managed to get both those Medabots in one blast, I would still be picking her, and most probably you, off the ground."

Sheena stopped her celebration and flopped back onto her chair. "Sure," She mumbled, sourly. "Just kill my joy, why don't you."

Larry smiled at this, before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. He put down the cup. "But, Jane, Sheena doesn't have a rare medal. Those are the medals that the Medabot Corporation supposedly uses to clone the mass-production medals, right? Well, I did a search through their archives, including the information on their rare medals. Sheena's just wasn't there."

"Were there any archives you skipped?"

"Only the geological and archaeological sections. I didn't really need information about stuff they were digging up in Peru."

"Ahh, you were wrong there," Jane reached onto the table behind her and pulled out a stack of papers. "That's exactly where I hit paydirt on Sheena's medal. Here, you keep this to read at home, but I'll give you the gist of it. Sheena's medal is what's called the 'Melded medal', which, according to the scriptures in the ruins in Peru, is the creator of the rare medals."

"Come again? The creator of the rare medals?"

"It's all in there. I can't quite remember the rest of it. Larry, I think I'm going to have to end our little conversation. It's already past one, and I think I hear some angry customers outside."

Larry stood up, still reading the papers. "Yeah...Sure. Sheena, let's go."

Sheena was regarding her medafighter with some concern when they got outside. "Hey, you look pretty zoned out. You okay?"

"No, not really. I just lost the feeling in my legs..."

"Huh?"

Larry just stood there, scanning the page. With each passing sentence, his eyes grew wider, until he reached the final paragraph.

"Oh...Geez..."