A big round of thanks to Jean Cooper and again supernae for a good round of reviews! Please keep it up!

So now, here's yet another one of my all-time favorite chapters to write in this story. Enjoy, guys! :

Chapter 13: The Fighting Dreamers

"Ah, good. You're finally awake."

After a few days of healing, the rested blonde farmer awoken to the sight of Doctor Trent's watchful eye.

"So… how do you feel today?" he asked.

"I feel just fine… finally." Claire replied with a warm smile, "Thanks, Doctor."

"Fantastic!" Doctor Trent cried. "We were worried for a bit that you weren't going to pull through at the last minute, but it looked like we made it just in time."

Claire's smile soon appeared even bright then before.

"I'm very grateful!" she cheered.

"I'm just as pleased to see the results myself. However, we still have to do one more last-minute procedure before we can let you go. There might be a few more symptoms that must be remedied before we can declare a full recovery, and--"

The Doctor's speech was interrupted by the sound of a loud engine.

"I'm sorry, I'll have to come back to you on that later. Please don't overexert yourself." He added.

"Don't worry, I won't."

In due speed, the curious Doctor made it to the entrance to meet with his new arrival.

Right outside the door was a conspicuous figure mounted on a motorcycle, with a gentle-looking woman on the passenger seat, and a good number of the Mineral Town ladies trailing behind him.

The mounted figure had smooth, slicked-back strawberry blonde hair and a few freckles spread about his face. He happened to be wearing a pair of dark shades, a jet black headband, a black leather jacket with matching boots, a pair of black jeans, and a yellow t-shirt with the inscription "chick magnet" in bold.

"Good Morning, Doc! I just decided to come by and deliver my Mom for her routine check up, as usual." He greeted.

"Intriguing entrance you made." Doctor Trent remarked.

"It's what I do best." The stranger smirked.

The excited ladies vying to catch the conspicuous character quickly made it to their destination, only to fawn over him incessantly.

"Oh my Goddess, it's Rick!"

"Rick!"

"It's Rick! I'm actually standing by Rick!"

"AAAH!! RICK!!"

One of the more composed women casually strode over to the leather-clad biker. She had long, brunette hair with a pair of nicely-bleached bangs, as well as eyes that shone like brilliant emeralds, and a soft, pleasing smile. She wore a flowing white cocktail dress, and golden sandals that sparkled in the sunlight. The young woman gave off the presence of an ideal angel.

"Please don't be too reckless on that motorbike of yours, Mr. Rick. The drift alone treats your perfect hair so poorly." She warned in a gentle voice as she combed the young man's mane ever so meticulously.

"Thanks for the warning, Karen baby, but I happen to think the untamed road makes me look a thousand times as sexy." Rick bragged.

"Ah, Karen! No Fair!!" Claire whined at the Doctor's side.

"No Fair, Karen!" the other women complained.

The gleeful Karen replied with a playful giggle.

"Ladies, ladies. Please! There's enough of me to go around." The charismatic Rick grinned in cocky pleasure.

The other ladies could not help but swoon at his haughty display.

All of a sudden, Doctor Trent heard an explosion from behind. Everyone else was far too caught up in Rick's presence to notice, so he ended up investigating the matter by himself. As he went deeper in the clinic, he noticed is personal office covered in dense fog.

"What the heck? What is going on here?" he cried.

Eventually, the smoke cleared to reveal the face of a young woman with braided red hair and big azure eyes… with her body covered entirely in equally azure robotic armor.

"Hand over the jewel of truth you possess, robo!" the stylized girl demanded.

The puzzled Doctor raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Wh-what did you just call me?"

"Enough stalling, robo! Us members of Team Robot have come to raid this town of its mystical jewels of truth, so that we may finally fulfill our wish of ruling this world with an bluish iron fist, robo!" The girl proclaimed.

"Alright, first of all, the mystical jewels of truth are only a myth! I'm not even sure they exist, and if they do, I doubt I'd have something in possession that I don't know about! And second of all, do you have some sort of strange speech impediment Miss?" Doctor Trent explained.

"DO NOT INSULT A SUPREME OFFICER OF TEAM ROBOT!" shouted the rather impatient girl.

She then raised her right arm, which reconfigured itself to reveal a mini-missile launcher.

"Oh, crap…" Doctor Trent muttered to himself.

"Now, tell me where you're keeping that precious jewel of truth of yours, robo!" the girl repeated.

"I'm afraid you're too late, Raggedy Ann…" a sinister voice taunted.

"Oh, great. What is it this time?" Doctor Trent sighed.

Both the perplexed doctor and the armored enforcer looked off to the side to reveal a roguish figure wearing a top hat and full black tuxedo suit. But most conspicuous of all was the beady-eyed smiley mask and the raven-haired braid that slung off to the side. The mysterious character simply gave a maniacal laugh as it was spotted.

"Curses! It's the Phantom Renegade, robo!" the red-head snarled.

"Indeed I am. And… what's this? Look what I just got my hands on!" Phantom Renegade teased.

The dashing rogue then revealed a big, shiny pearl in her grasp.

"A JEWEL OF TRUTH, ROBO!" The robotic enforcer cried.

Phantom Renegade let out yet another sinister laugh.

"Yes, one of the several jewels of truth are finally in possession! You snooze, you lose, pal!" Phantom Renegade mocked.

"Not when I'm done with you, robo!" the robotic enforcer shouted.

She then switched targeting from the helpless doctor to the cunning thief.

"Give it up! You can't win, robo!"

"Oh, really?!"

Phantom Renegade then rolled off to the side to grab a stack of papers, which she then threw into the air spontaneously.

"GO, ONE THOUSAND CRANES!!"

In an instant, the airborne paper folded themselves into sharp paper cranes, which flew straight at the armored red-head, which temporarily threw off her aim and concentration. After the paper cranes flew past, the robotic enforcer remained erect and unscathed.

"Ha! Not even a scratch! I guess all that talk about the Phantom Renegade's abilities as a Paper Master is just a bunch of crock, robo!" the robotic enforcer taunted.

"Oh, that wasn't my actual objective…" Phantom Renegade chuckled.

"Then what--"

The devious rogue took out a remote controlled button from a pants pocket and waved it playfully in plain sight.

"Wh-what's that, robo?!"

"Say goodbye, dear!"

Upon pressing the button, the robotic enforcer realized that she was being propelled upward by a jetpack just recently strapped to her back. Eventually, it propelled her full force straight into the atmosphere.

"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROBOT'S BLASTING OF AGAIN, ROBOOOOOOOOO!!"

Her last cry could be heard echoing throughout the sky.

Back on the ground, Doctor Trent was still caught by surprise from the recent turn of events.

"But, but how? The sacred jewels of truth are only a myth!" he cried.

"Doctor, Doctor, doctor…" Phantom Renegade uttered with a clicking tongue, "You should really have more faith in Mineral Town legends."

"But… if that's true, where did you find that jewel?" Doctor Trent demanded to know.

Once again, Phantom Renegade released a trademark laugh.

"It was stored in a desk where Elli keeps her chocolates. I assume she simply didn't recognize this rare gem." Phantom Renegade explained. "In any case, I must off. Tata for now!"

The stylish phantom then attempted a daring escape, but not before taking a clumsy spill to the ground.

"Um…er… are you okay, Phantom?" Doctor Trent asked.

"Ow… I think I might have scraped my knees." the felled thief said aloud in a gentle, sheepish voice.

"Um, I mean… I'm fine! Just fine!" the thief resumed in the usually defiant tone. "Phantom Renegade, Away!"

"Wait, hold on just a--minute…"

With a moment's hesitation, the mysterious thief fled the scene without a trace.

"Hm…intriguing." Doctor Trent said to himself.

After all of the confusion that took place, the doctor decided to ponder the situation upstairs, where he can finally get some peace and quiet. However, all was not yet finished.

"I'M IN DESPAIR!!"

Doctor Trent turned to his side to notice a thoroughly freaked-out Claire who appeared to be on the verge as what could only be described as a "breakdown/epiphany"

"Um, Claire? Is something the matter? And how did you appear right beside me instantaneously like that?" he asked.

"I'M IN DESPAIR!!", Claire repeated, "ALL THIS CHAOS AND CONFUSION RIGHT NOW HAS LED ME TO DESPAIR!!"

"Now Claire, just please calm down. You were fine just a moment ago, very ecstatic to meet Rick. You don't have to let this madness get to you again." Doctor Trent tried to explain in a very composed tone.

"LOOK! THAT MAN! HE'S CAUSING THAT INNOCENT GIRL TO BECOME DEPRESSED!" Karen's angelic voice announced from outside the clinic.

"Hey, I know that man! He's Doctor Death!" a man with a brown ponytail proclaimed.

"Doctor Death!? That jerkwad's responsible for making Mary disappear, who I haven't seen since the Phantom Renegade started showing her masked face around here!" A familiar grumpy voice cried.

"GET HIM!!"

Without much time to think, Doctor Trent fled to the second story and locked himself in his personal room.

"Darn it! The entire town has gone mad, and it's somehow that Phantom Renegade's fault!" Doctor Trent growled, "but what's causing all of this?"

From downstairs, the crowd began chanting louder and louder, until it was audibly clear to the confined man.

"DESTORY DOCTOR DEATH! DESTROY DOCTOR DEATH!"

Frantically, Doctor Trent searched his desk until he arrived at a manila envelope with the words "TOP SECRET" stamped in red. He carefully opened up the envelope, revealing the contents to be extensive data on a deadly parasite.

"That's it! The citizenry of this town… they've already been infected! They've become Los Ganados!" Doctor Trent deduced. "Curses!"

Before he could say any further, the door to his room was experiencing violent bangings. Doctor Trent felt that there was no way he could make it out peacefully, so he headed towards a glass display case with the words "Break Glass In Case of Emergency", and follow the instructions without any hesitation. He then reached for the object inside, which turned out to be a shotgun, and patiently awaited the mob.

"You'll get no sympathy from me…" Doctor Trent muttered coolly under his breath.

Finally, the door broke down, and the mob began flooding the room. Doctor Trent charged the assailants with shotgun in hand, ready to give them hell.

"THE FIGHT IS ON!!" he cried mightily.

--

Immediately, Karen sprang up in the middle of the night in a half daze. Instead of wearing the flowing white dress from her dream she was in a soft, lavender night gown.

"Now that was just weird…" she grumbled to herself. "Did I drink myself into another crazy dream?"

She then began to recall the rather peculiar events that took place within the realm of sleep.

"It was cool and all that Rick looked badass… and Doctor acted badass, but what was up with me being all shiny and prissy?" she muttered.

Without giving much time to further think on it, the weary Karen collapsed right back into unconsciousness to resume her dreaming.

Yup, it was all Karen's dream. Didn't make it any less fun for me to write, though. Too many wacky references to catch, but just clarify one thing, Ann is supposed to be dressed up like Robocop without the helmet. Weird, huh?

Coming up next, Claire wakes up. For real this time. And the drama's really reaching a boiling point. A possibly unexpected surprise comes to light for one of the Mineral Town Citizens as a confession is made. And it's not just A confession…. But THE confession? Who is Claire Kafka falling for? Why didn't she feel so well to begin with? And being the blonde farmer's best girlfriend, will Mary still have reason enough to be trustworthy after the truth finally comes out? Find out next time! The Climax is just about to begin!!

sings the Medabots Theme song

MEDABOTTTTTT--S--S--S--S--S--S--S--S--S--S--S!!