The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives

Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan

Chapter Six: Heading for the National Championship

Larry lay on his bed, his hands laced behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. He could hear Sheena playing PS2 in the living room and wondered once more about the things he had read in the document. He picked it up from the floor beside his bed and scanned through it one more time, even though he had read it enough times to know it off by heart.

The first page was simply a letter from the lead archaeologist, which included an inventory of the things they had found in their dig. Amongst these were several translated texts from the walls of the temple.

Larry paged over and the first text was supposedly from the priest of a people who had died long ago. He stated that the thousand years of prosperity had been ended, and that the people's thirst for battle had finally become too great. Civil war had broken out, and if it did not stop soon, their creators might have to take drastic steps to end it. The text ended with a prayer by the priest, who wished for the fighting to end, and for his people to once more become peaceful.

The second page was a set of drawings that had been taken from the same room as the priest's verbiage. One showed a group of rioting people, who looked suspiciously like Medabots (Screw that idea...Larry thought tiredly. Those are Medabots) burning houses and fighting with each other. Even though it was only a drawing, Larry could almost hear the noises of battle, the smell of burning thatch.

The second text was taken from the main room of the temple. It was allegedly written by the "Creators" referred to in the previous transcript. The first entry seemed to be before the civil war, as the creators talked about their people flourishing, using the powers they had granted them wisely.

After that, the entries become bleaker, as they tell of how a group of people had decided to use their powers to gain revenge on a rival village that had been taking over the grazing grounds. That village retaliated in turn, causing friends from the first village to come to their aid. Eventually, it degenerated into war, the once beautiful and fertile country reduced to a wasteland from the fighting.

The Creators were unable to get the groups to stop warring through normal means, and at one point, it seemed as though the two would be drawn into opposite camps as well. Finally, they chose to stop the fighting, before it engulfed the entire planet.

They decided together, to unseal the ultimate power that only they had access to. Using it, they obliterated their own country and most of their people. Those who survived realised their folly, but it was too late. The Creators decided that their people's time was over, and sealed away the souls of those who remained, deep below the ground. Then, they split the power between the two of them, each receiving half, and then they fused together, ensuring the power could never be used unless both of them were present. Then, they sealed themselves away as well, their people forever wiped from the earth.

Then there was the part that disturbed him the most. Below this was a drawing of the "Soul" of the creator. It was a double sided medal, almost the same as Sheena's. The exception was that this one had a full picture on each side, while hers had half a picture on the front and the strange corrosion on the back.

The last page. It was a prophecy, made by the priest who also wrote the first text. He recorded it shortly before he too was sealed away.

That which was once buried, will be exhumed

That which once created, will awake

That which was burnt, will be reformed

In the time when the world is close to its end

The chosen ones

Will become one

Unsealing the ultimate power with it

And bring salvation...or destruction

With a yell, he flung the report across his room, where it struck Sheena, who had just entered, in the head.

"What the?" She picked it up and recognised it immediately. She looked across at Larry. "Oh man, you're not still brooding over this thing? Larry, it's ancient mumbo-jumbo."

He sat up and looked back at her. "Sheena, I don't want to believe this either, but you have to admit, some of this stuff is a little too close for comfort."

Sheena exhaled noisily as she jumped onto the bed next to him. "Look, if I really was the re-embodiment of some ancient god, do you think I'd be taking orders from you in a robattle? Oh no, my friend, you'd be giving an hourly buffing and wax."

Larry grinned slightly, and it grew after a while. "I guess you're right."

"Naturally. Now, get your butt in gear, we've got some robattles to win."

"Huh?"

Sheena sighed. "Hello, anyone there? You do still want to make it to that provincial tournament, don't you?"

"Oh, that. I checked the standings last night. So far, we're sixth in Gauteng. But, only the top two qualify, so let's get going."

"That's more like it," She replied as the two left the house. "Forget the past, focus on the present. That's what I always say."

Two days later, the two had chalked up a number of victories without any losses or having to resort to the Medaforce. They had qualified for the Nationals, but only barely, winning the last fight that pushed them up to second.

Larry was out jogging when the phone rang. Sheena got up from the couch and answered it.

"Hello, Linford residence"

"Hello? Who is this? Where's Larry" It was a woman.

"Whoa, aren't you just the nosy one. Larry's out, so do you want to leave a message?"

"Excuse me? Listen, I want to know who you are..."

Sheena was starting to get slightly annoyed. "That's none of your business, but since we are playing 'Twenty Questions', how about you give me your name?"

The woman's voice was cold as she replied. "My name is Zelda Linford. I'm Larry's mother."

That was enough to silence Sheena, and she mentally kicked herself. Oh, brilliant going, Sheena. Just go and insult the person who is, for all intents and purposes, your medafighter's boss. That's a sure-fire way of ending up back at the scrap heap.

"Not so talkative now, are you, missy? So, where is my son? I told him about bringing girls home."

"Hold it, Mrs. Linford, we're not exactly on the same page here. Let me start from the beginning..."

"Good. Name?"

"My nickname, or manufacturer name?"

"What?"

"I'm Metabee, serial number: MCMTB 004560, but Larry just calls me Sheena. I'm not a girl in the traditional sense of the word, I'm a Medabot."

Larry's mom's voice suddenly warmed up. "Oh, really? So that's what the message was about. He told me he needed two aeroplane tickets to Cape Town, but didn't say what they were for. I guess he's going to some sort of competition involving you Medabots, right?"

"Yeah. We succeeded in qualifying for the Nationals, but I didn't know we were flying down."

"Well, ask him to phone me when he gets back. It was a pleasure meeting you, Sheena."

"You too, Mrs. L. Bye." Sheena replaced the phone and jumped up into the air. "Yes! I'm going flying!"

Larry came home at that exact moment, and caught her sentence. "Exactly where are you flying to?"

Sheena lost her balance mid-jump and crashed painfully to the floor. She picked herself up and jumped onto him, locking him in a bearhug. Larry staggered back into the wall and fell down. Over Sheena's cries of "We're flying, we're flying!" he tried to point out that she was crushing his trachea. She eventually let him go and told him the story, though he had to make her start over a few times because she was babbling on at a pace that made it difficult to understand what she was saying. When she was finished, he immediately got on the phone with his mother. They spoke for about ten minutes, and judging by Larry's laughter, he was being told the particulars of their conversation earlier.

Larry came into the hall and spoke to her. "My mom's already booked a second ticket for you. We're both flying business class, so you'd better behave yourself."

"Of course," Sheena replied, batting her eyes innocently. "I don't even know why you're telling me that."

"Yeah right," Larry said as they mounted the stairs to his room. "I'd better go pack, we're flying the day after tomorrow. Wanna help, or are you scared I might seduce you like I do to all girls?"

Sheena giggled. "You shall make no assault on my honour, young man, or I will phone your mother."

When Larry and Sheena disembarked from the flight that had taken them to Cape Town a day later, neither of them was in the best of moods. Larry was mumbling underneath his breath, while Sheena merely stared ahead, not saying a word.

As they crossed the runway into the terminal, Sheena finally said something. "Why didn't you just give me the barf bag when I asked for it?"

"Because," Larry replied, his voice barely audible. "I thought you were messing around. If I had known Medabots were capable of getting airsick, I would have done so."

"I'm just saying this so you don't go blaming me, because you look sort of cheesed off."

"Oh, I only LOOK cheesed off?" Larry stopped dead in his tracks and glared down at Sheena. "I AM cheesed off! You kicked up a racket in the aeroplane when we hit turbulence, then you started on about the barf bag. And, to crown it all off...YOU VOMITED ALL OVER ME!"

Sheena glared back. "IT'S ONLY COOLANT FLUID!"

"WELL, I STILL HAD TO SIT THROUGH THE ENTIRE FLIGHT SMELLING LIKE SOME REDNECK MECHANIC!"

"IF YOU HAD JUST BELIEVED ME..."

Both were now yelling at the top of their voices.

Larry interrupted her. "WELL, YOU DIDN'T HELP WHEN YOU OVEREACTED TO A LITTLE TURBULENCE." His voice took on a pretty good imitation of Sheena. "'We're going to crash! I'm too young to die!' NOW TELL ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE BELIEVED YOU WERE AIRSICK AFTER THAT LITTLE PERFORMANCE!"

Sheena took a step towards Larry and raised her fist. "ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU..."

"AND WHAT THEN? LISTEN TO ME, SHORT STUFF..."

Both abruptly looked up to see that all of the activity in the arrivals terminal had ceased, and most people were now staring openly at them. A small child of six was pointing at Sheena and telling his mother "Look at the funny man and his robot, mommy! They look kind of dumb."

Larry turned away from Sheena to the child's mother. "Ma'am, I think you'd better teach your child that if he wants to insult other people, he should perhaps take his finger out of his nose first."

The woman looked affronted. "Well, I never! My child did no such thing."

Larry was about to reply, when Sheena pre-empted him. "Look lady. When I was watching him, he seemed to be getting ready to perform a lobotomy on himself."

"You two are rude, and unmannered! First you stand and bicker for all the world to hear, and then you have the cheek to insult my son. Really!"

She stormed off in a huff, dragging her son behind her. Larry stared after her and shook his head, laughing. Sheena tried to maintain her look of anger, but eventually, she too dissolved into laughter. The people who had been staring at them lost interest and began moving to their destinations again, leaving only the young man and his Medabot, who were still laughing. They finally stopped, and the two glanced at each other.

"Well," Larry said and shrugged. "I guess it is only coolant."

Sheena punched him in the side. "Forget about it. We've got more important things to worry about. So, how is this tournament going to work?"

Larry explained in the taxi on the way to their hotel. The tournament was going to be fought in an elimination bracket. Each province provided two medafighters, which meant there were eighteen medafighters who were going to be battling it out. But there was more at stake here than just being the national champion. These championships would also determine who would be in the team South Africa sent to the World Robattle Championship. Even though it was still eighteen months until the WRC would be held, the team needed time to prepare.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on you, Sheena," Larry said as they entered the hotel. "But I'm planning to be on that team."

"Don't worry," She said as he checked them in. "If it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure we get there."

Larry stood on the balcony overlooking the busy street below and about half a kilometre further, was the ocean, sparkling like a huge sapphire in the midday sun. Sheena was lazing around on the bed, watching TV. He knew they should probably be preparing for the tournament, but he felt even less like doing anything constructive than she did. He guessed it must be the sea air.

"Sheena, I'm heading down to the pool. You want to come with?"

His Medabot turned her head slowly towards him, and then back at the TV. "No thanks, this is a really good movie. You go and check out some girls, I'll stay here."

"Fine," Larry said as he opened their door. "But just remember that we have a tournament starting tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow morning we are going to run drills like crazy, so prepare yourself."

Dressed in a pair of sandals, blue boardshorts and an open neck Hawaiian shirt, Larry got into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. As the doors were about to close, he heard a voice yelling "Hold the elevator, please!".

He grabbed the doors and held them open for the girl who came jogging in. If it hadn't been for the fact that Larry had recognised her voice, he never would have known who it was.

"Alexis, is that you?"

The girl glanced up at him and her eyes widened in surprise. "Larry, what are you doing here?"

Larry looked at her in dumbfounded silence. Of the stuffy rich girl he had last seen at Jane's workshop, there was very little left. Now, she had her red hair hanging loose and it spilled down her shoulders in crimson waves. Her face, which had been slightly pale the last time he saw her, was now lightly tanned from the summer sun and made her green eyes shimmer even more than usual. She was dressed in a white blouse and a pair of white shorts that accented her long legs, which were also turning brown now.

"I'm here for the tournament," He finally replied. "My record isn't as impressive as yours, miss Number One, but I did qualify."

"You're the other medafighter from Gauteng? I never even checked after I knew I had qualified. You don't know how glad I am you made it, I was scared Hank or Jeff would have made it and my relationship with the pair of them isn't the best at the moment."

"Forget them," Larry made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Hanging out with them any longer probably would have dropped your IQ below zero. You look like you're enjoying yourself."

"I am," She replied, smiling. "I was actually on my way to have a look at the stadium where they're planning to hold the tournament. It's only a five minute walk from here, so do you feel like joining me?"

"Sure. It beats hanging around here all day."

"I just have one question," She said, and looked at him. "Your surname is Linford, right?"

"Last time I checked," Larry replied. "Why?"

"Are you by any chance related to Pierre Linford?"

Larry laughed. He wondered how long it would be before she had figured that out. Pierre was his cousin, and had been robattling a whole lot longer than Larry had, a whole year longer in fact. Even though no "official" national rankings had yet been taken, Larry would easily place his cousin as one of the best, and he told Alexis this.

"His stats prove your point," Alexis replied, her eyes distant. "Number one Medafighter from the Eastern Cape, one of highest "win/robattles fought" percentages. Do you know if he's here?"

"I suspect so. Knowing how into his robattling he is, he's probably scoping out the venue already."

"What's he like?" Alexis's question tried to come out casually, but Larry could hear a competitive edge to her voice.

"Sorry, Alexis, but I'm keeping that info to myself. With pros like you and my cousin here, I'm going to need every advantage I can get."

"Oh, you're no fun. And, Larry, you can call em Alex if you want."

"Alex it is, then."

Larry looked at her and grinned, and she smiled too. This was going to be an interesting competition, to say the least.

When they arrived at the arena, a small, informal match was already going on outside. One of the medafighters was a girl of about sixteen. Larry took one glance at her face and saw that it didn't look as if she was prepared for the beating that her opponent was giving her.

Alex took him by the arm and led them past the crowd so they could see what was happening. The girl's Medabot was lying on the ground, struggling to get up. The enemy Medabot was standing a few feet away, waiting for a command from its medafighter.

The Medabot was silver-grey in colour, with black stripes running down its arms and legs. It had no visible weapons, but its arms and legs looked toughened, showing it was built for close combat.

"Riptide, let's finish this. Spear attack!" The medafighter shouted.

Larry's head swung towards the medafighter so fast, Alex thought he might have hurt himself from the whiplash. She looked at him and didn't see anything strange about him, unless you counted the fact that he was about four years younger than the girl he was fighting.

She looked to his Medabot, which had hunched over, hands on his knees. It seemed to be waiting for the opposing Medabot to get up. It did, completely facing the wrong way and not noticing the Medabot stalking it. At that precise moment, the waiting Medabot sprang forward, rushing its opponent. The girl's Medabot turned around a second before it was taken down by a hard tackle to the body. It struck the ground, its head slamming into the ground so hard that it bounced once.

The young boy had clearly won the battle, and she wanted to tell Larry something, but he was already walking towards the winner. The boy glanced at Larry for a second, before he did a double-take, staring at Larry with his mouth open. Larry smiled, and said something that she couldn't hear. The boy grinned and held out his hand. Larry took it and they shook, before Larry pulled the boy closer and placed him in a headlock.

Now, she could hear his shout. "Hey, I thought you were more mature than this, Larry. Owww!"

Larry grinned as he gave the boy a noogie. "You've gone soft without me around, pal. You used to be able to get out of one of these without any problem."

"I've grown up, something that you obviously haven't done," The boy said as he shoved Larry off him. When he did, he glanced in Alex's direction. "Then again, what you lack in maturity you make up for in taste. Who's your girlfriend?"

Alex raised her eyebrow in annoyance. "Excuse me? Just who do you think you are?"

He grinned cockily at her. "Ooh, feisty. Well babe, you're talking to the most skilled medafighter in the Eastern Cape, if not the entire country."

Seeing Alex's face shift from annoyed to flat-out amazement, Larry leaned on the boy's shoulder and grinned as well. " Alex, meet my cousin, Pierre Linford."

"So, when did you become such an expert?" Pierre asked his cousin. The three of them were sitting in the coffee shop inside the stadium. Pierre's Medabot, Riptide, had gone off somewhere, and the three medafighters were now discussing the tournament.

"Heh, would you believe I've had Sheena less than a month?"

"No way," Pierre said, his slice of chocolate cake hovering half-way to his mouth. "You can't be serious? I've been robattling almost a year and here you come along with a month's worth of experience and squeeze into the number two spot. How'd you do it?"

"Well, with my natural talent, of course." Larry smiled, and nodded in Alex's direction. "If it will make you feel any better, Gauteng's not exactly packed to the rafters with skilled medafighters. The lady here is the exception of course."

At this remark, Alex blushed slightly. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Larry. But Pierre, I had no idea you were so..."

"Good looking? Yeah, I know it stuns the girls sometimes, but hey."

"Actually, I meant to say I wasn't expecting you to be so young," She replied dryly. "And you should watch that mouth of yours. One day, you might run into a girl who isn't as forgiving as I am."

The boy flashed her his cocky smile again, and he and Larry started talking about family matters. She didn't particularly feel left out, as it gave her time to compare the two cousins. Larry had told her that the two of them were more closely related than most cousins (Their fathers were brothers and their mothers sisters) which would probably explain the bond the two of them had. However, as she looked at the two of them now, she didn't really see a family resemblance.

While both of them were tall for their respective ages, Larry had a more stout build, whereas Pierre was quite skinny. Larry's hair was such a dark shade of brown, it could almost be seen as black, and it was as thick a prairie hedge. Pierre's hair was a sandy, light-brown colour and quite thin. Larry had dark blue eyes and Pierre had light-brown ones.

"...Fellyne?"

"Huh?" Alex's thinking was interrupted by a question from Larry.

"I said, where's Fellyne? I didn't see her anywhere in the hotel."

"I left her in my room. And speaking of which, where's that loudmouth Medabot of yours?"

"She thought that the marathon of John Wayne movies was more entertaining than hanging out with me."

"It must be harsh, being ditched for an old cowboy."

"Like you wouldn't believe

Their conversation was interrupted by the Public Announce system. "Will the following medafighters please report to the Security Office: Alexis Adams, Larry Linford and Pierre Linford. Your Medabots are currently impounded there."

Alex looked at Larry, who looked at Pierre. "What are they talking about?" Alex asked. "Both Sheena and Fellyne are at our hotel, and besides, they can't know your Medabot, can they?"

Pierre shrugged. "Weirder things have happened to Riptide. Anyway, we'd better go get them. Can't enter a Medabot tournament with no Medabot."

"...And next time, don't leave your Medabot unattended. You got that, son?" The aged security guard's lecture finally ended, and Larry was pretty thankful for it.

"Yes, sir. Come on, Sheena, we're going."

His Medabot, who was still pretty angry that she had been locked in a cage for the past ten minutes, merely nodded and walked out with him. It was already late, and the sun was setting as they walked out of the arena. Since the stadium was only a few blocks from the hotel, he decided they would walk back. It would also give him time to get the story from Sheena.

Alex and Pierre had gotten their Medabots back without any trouble. Riptide did look slightly dented when he left with Pierre, and Fellyne had seemed as irate as Sheena had been when he went to collect her. But, according to the guard, since Sheena started the fight, her medafighter needed a good talking to. And that's exactly what he got. Twenty minutes worth, actually.

"Sheena, you mind telling me what happened back there? First off, how did you get here? Secondly, how did you meet up with Fellyne, and thirdly, exactly why would the two of you try to beat up Riptide?"

And Larry got the whole story, the entire, very strange story. Apparently, Sheena had run into Fellyne at the hotel when she had gone down to the pool area to find him, unaware of the fact that he had gone with Alex to the tournament stadium. Once there, she had spotted the cat-shaped Medabot practising by the pool. And naturally enough, had gone over to mess with her a bit.

After they had exchanged one or two insults (Larry guessed that this was the closest the two Medabots would ever come to making casual chit-chat ) Fellyne told Sheena that she had seen both their medafighters leave the hotel and that she had a pretty good idea where they were headed. Since the John Wayne marathon was over, Sheena decided she might as well go along with Fellyne. They had arrived easily enough, and were strolling through the stadium whilst looking for their medafighters. That was, until Riptide had shown up.

When Pierre had first wrote to Larry about his new Medabot (Pierre was a technology freak, and so had imported Riptide about two months after the release of Medabots in Japan), he had mentioned a slightly strange trait.

It seems Riptide was a bit of a skirt-chaser, strange as that might sound. Any female Medabot that came within a mile of him could pretty much count on being hit on. Riptide must have thought he had hit the jackpot when he saw the two female Medabots walking around unattended. Poor guy didn't know what he was letting himself in for, as he soon found out.

When his suave flirtatious banter failed to impress Fellyne, he tried to on Sheena, who told him in no uncertain terms into which of his sockets he could shove his offer of a romantic evening. Next was when made his fatal mistake.

"Alright ladies," He had said and walked past them. "If you want it that way, it's fine." And had swatted both of the lady Medabots firmly on the behind.

Sheena had to stop her story at this point, because Larry finally couldn't keep his laughter inside anymore and had to lean against a tree while he tried to catch his breath. Glaring at him when he finally stopped, she asked "Are you done?"

"Yeah, sure." Larry said and sniggered one last time. "Carry on."

It turns out there wasn't a lot more to the story. Obviously, these two girls weren't going to take this lying down and proceeded to beat the absolute hell out of Riptide, who was too surprised to even try and defend himself, leaving him to Sheena and Fellyne's mercy until the security guards finally showed up.

When they got back to the hotel, Larry glanced at his watch and felt a slight drop in his stomach.

There was less than fifteen hours until the national tournament started.