London
Kiko ran. She ran
far and she ran fast - so fast that the world around
her transformed into a colourful blur. She could not
make out anything she passed; no trees, no people, no
buildings - only colours, colours which poured into
one another to form a dark mess.
Despite this, by
some means she did not understand, Kiko managed to
avoid any obstacles that came her way. Something
would appear - too late, at the speed she was
travelling, for her to react - she would see a burst
of colour and, suddenly, she would be past it, still
heading toward the one goal at the centre of her
vision: a red, rectangular box which she knew
represented one of two vans that may be carrying a
dangerous cargo.
Before she knew it,
Kiko's hand rested on the back of the van, and it was
then that everything began to slow down, that things
became clear, that she realised the van had stopped
moving. She listened carefully at the back door and
heard the thump! and crack! of
something hard striking the vehicle's metal frame.
Kiko pulled hard on
the handle at the van's rear, but the door would not
open.
What do I do? she
wondered. Without my powers, I can't break the
door down... I've only got my -
She reached around
to her side and felt her Robo Rifle still nestled
firmly in its leather holster. She pulled it out
quickly and levelled it at the door's handle, then
pulled the trigger.
The Robo Rifle
emitted no light or sound but, a second later, she
heard a loud snap! as the lock mechanism and
the handle attached to it fall apart. The doors swung
open wide and Kiko a single man dressed entirely in
black - black boots, tight black pants, a black
shirt, black gloves and a black balaclava - standing
over two unconscious American soldiers.
His back was turned
to Kiko when the doors first opened but he turned to
see who had disturbed him and stumbled back when he
saw her face.
"Who are
you?" Kiko asked.
She kept her Robo
Rifle aimed high at the man in black, ready to defend
herself.
The man shook his
head.
"Answer me or I
will shoot!"
"I believe
you," the man said.
His voice seemed
familiar to Kiko and, for a second, she thought it
might be that of her brother, Senshi. Then, she
realised, his voice was marked by an American accent;
completely unlike her brother's Japanese.
"I am
Guardian," the man continued. "I don't want
to fight you. Let me take the Eternity Changer and
go, so you - "
"No way!"
Kiko told him.
The man shook his
head again.
"You can stay
here and fight me, you can stay here and lose,
or you can let me go and make it back to save your
friends," Guardian said. "Either way, I am
leaving with the Eternity Changer."
The man turned his
back to Kiko and she slowly lowered her weapon.
"What is the
Eternity Changer?" she asked. "Why do you
want it?"
"I don't know
what it is, but I want it because my boss tells me I
want it," Guardian said. "Ah."
Kiko watched as he
placed his hands flat on a large white box and slowly
pushed its lid onto the floor. He looked inside and
nodded.
"Finally,"
he muttered. He lifted the box suddenly and turned
back to face Kiko. "Don't you think you should
go help your friends?"
Kiko said nothing as
Guardian reached into his pocket and withdrew a black
walkie-talkie. As he lifted the device two other,
smaller items fell from his pocket and clattered
against the ground. They shone in what little ambient
light illuminated the area and Kiko recognised them
immediately - two Eternity shards; one raido,
one jera. She did not hear what
Guardian said as he held the walkie-talkie but she
turned her attention away from the shards long enough
to watch him disappear in a haze of blue mist.
A jera
shard! Kiko thought happily. With this I can
transform again! But... what do I do with it?
She glanced down at
the bulky Alert Bracer strapped to her left wrist,
pressed a sequence of keys and raised it to her
mouth. "Sei? Can you hear me?"
"Y-yes,
Yellow Robo," came Sei's strained reply. "Did
you reach the vans?"
"Guardian got
away with the Eternity Changer," Kiko
revealed, "but I found a jera shard.
Maybe I can henshin again! What do I
do?"
"There is
no time to explain the proper process," Sei
said. "Hold the shard tightly when you
attempt the henshin. It may work."
Kiko pulled the
Alert Bracer away from her mouth and stuck her arms
directly out to the side. Suddenly, she raised her
arms above her head and shouted: "Let's
go, Robo!"
Energy crackled
around her body as the already-familiar sensation of
the transformation began. She felt the circuitry
embedded beneath her skin pulsate as it sent the
signals instructing her robosuit to allow metal
shards to pierce the thin fabric and re-form as a
shiny silver chestplate, gloves and boots. The same
metal covered her face and the back of her head to
form a thick but malleable helmet. Commands came into
focus on the inside of the two-way mirrored visor
that opened directly in front of her eyes.
"Phase
Three! Go Robo Vehicles!"
The metal components
that formed Kiko's armour separated from her body and
hovered in the air before her. It took only a few
moments for the metal to expand, change colour and
fuse together to form the familiar form of the yellow
Lightning Jet. Kiko ran and climbed into the jet's
cockpit.
["I'm coming,
guys!"]
["Unnnngh!"]
Ikku groaned as the
massive, armoured foot of Chojin Robo struck the side
of the Flame Tank, knocking it - again - upside-down.
He concentrated, and the Flame Tank faded away, only
to reappear a moment later the right way up. He
climbed back inside and moved forward, but Chojin
Robo struck again, and again, and again.
["Sei, this
isn't working,"] he said. ["Any
ideas?"]
["We must
distract Chojin Robo until Yellow Robo
returns,"] Sei replied. ["Once we re-form
Gattai Robo - Red Robo, look out - !"]
Ikku glanced up to
see the massive Chaos Sword in Chojin Robo's hand
falling towards him. He gripped the Flame Tank's
controls tightly and tried to move backwards, but the
tank was far too slow. The Chaos Sword came closer
and closer, until a streak of yellow cut across its
path. Ikku blinked and, when he opened his eyes, saw
the Lightning Jet hovering in front of Chojin Robo.
The large black robot swung the Chaos Sword back and
forth, but the Lightning Jet easily evaded it, moving
so quickly that, to Ikku, it seemed almost to be
teleporting itself - only without the blue raido
energy that usually accompanied the effort.
["Robo
fusion?"] Kiko asked.
"Robo
Fusion!" Sei and Ikku shouted in
unison.
The
Water Cutter split horizontally down the middle and
folded apart to form a pair of black and blue legs
and a strong black 'pelvis'. Then the turret of the
Flame Tank lifted off as the rest of the tank split
in half. The turret connected to the Water Cutter
'pelvis' to form a red 'spine', and the two remaining
pieces of the Flame Tank became red and black arms.
The wings of the Lightning Jet folded back, leaving
the jet looking like a solid rectangular block with a
nosecone attached. The block settled on top of Gattai
Robo's 'pelvis' and in front of its 'spine' to form a
yellow torso and the nosecone folded backwards as
though it were a hood, revealing the black and grey
head of the robot.
The
cockpits of the three vehicles merged together; walls
disappeared, leaving the three Robomen in one room,
sitting before three separate control panels.
"Electro
Blaster!" Kiko said, almost before the fusion
was complete. There was a sudden blue flash as the
translucent-yellow, handgun-sized weapon appeared in
her right hand. Outside, a much larger version of the
weapon appeared in Gattai Robo's much larger version
of a right hand.
"You
little dudes have picked up some speed!" Chojin
Robo said. "Awesome!"
Gattai
Robo stopped moving.
["Chojin
Robo?"] Ikku asked.
"Yes?"
["Why
are you fighting us?"]
"I
told you, bud - I'm the distraction while Guardian
gets the Eternity Changer."
["Guardian's
gone, 'pal'."]
Chojin
Robo didn't reply.
["So
what's it going to be?"]
"Sorry,"
Chojin Robo said. "Nice try, but the only way
I'm going back to my boss and getting the upgrade I
want is if I can your robot. Nothing personal,
though."
Gattai
Robo shrugged.
"Kiko?"
Ikku said.
Kiko
nodded and slowly raised the Electro Blaster to aim
at the center of Chojin Robo's chest. Chojin Robo ran
forward, carrying the Chaos Sword ahead of him. Kiko
pulled the trigger once - two bright beams of yellow
energy arced from the barrel of Gattai Robo's weapon
and struck the Chaos Sword. She pulled the trigger
again so quickly that, to Ikku and Sei, it appeared
that she had only fired once. A second volley of jera
energy hit Chojin Robo's chest, and the robot
began to stagger.
He
dropped the Chaos Sword, which vanished the moment it
left his grasp. He fell to his knees. He leaned
forward.
Suddenly,
Chojin Robo's body was bathed in blue energy.
Somehow, he was teleporting.
"Yellow
Robo," Sei said. "Fire again. We cannot
risk having him repaired by Director Satoshi."
Kiko
nodded. She squeezed the trigger one more time and
the yellow jera energy struck Chojin Robo's
prostrate form - but to the surprise of everyone
present, even Sei, the jera energy did not
interfere with Chojin Robo's teleportation. Instead,
it aided it. He began to disappear more
rapidly as the yellow and blue energy swirled around
him - and began to expand outward.
Sei
jumped across the cockpit and took Ikku and Kiko's
hands in his. He concentrated, and blue raido
energy emanated from his body and filled the
room even as the yellow and blue sphere outside
Gattai Robo came closer. The three Robomen started to
fade away, and with their departure from the cockpit
Gattai Robo also vanished from the streets of London.
NEXT:
Heart of Darkness!
COG'S
SPECIAL REPORT!
 |
Hi! I'm Cog! The Robomen use a lot
of complicated technology, and sometimes it
can
be a bit hard to get your head around it all
- especially when you can't
actually see what's going on! (Hey,
if you can accept that a two-inch tall
robot is talking to you, you better be
able to accept that than they can
break the fourth-wall and acknowledge they're
a character in a work of
fiction!)
|
To help you out, I'm going to pop in
from time to time to let you know what I know
about the technology - and that isn't as much as you
might think. Doctor Nagura told me a lot, but he's a
world-famous bioroboticist... and while I might have
been one at one stage, I'm not 100% sure!
Today,
we are going to talk about Gattai Robo! Gattai
Robo's pretty tough - let's take a look at it!
You can
see the colours of the three Robo Vehicles that form
Gattai Robo pretty clear; the blue Water Cutter for
legs, the red Flame Tank for arms and the yellow
Lightning Jet for the chest and head!
But you
must be wondering how the three vehicles form Gattai
Robo. Well, look on!
First,
the Water Cutter folds out to form the legs and feet!
Once
the Water Cutter is stable, the Flame Tank splits
into three pieces - the turret forms Gattai Robo's
spine, while the bulkier armoured parts of the tank
form its arms!
Finally,
the Lightning Jet's wings fold in and the nosecone
folds back, to form Gattai Robo's chest and head!
The
individual cockpits of the Robo Vehicles merge to
form one large cockpit inside Gattai Robo's chest
where the three Robomen can see what the others are
doing and work together! Gattai Robo is all about
working together - after all, 'gattai' means
'fusion' or 'merge'!
If you
look very closely, you might see some similarities
between Gattai Robo and another robot that has
appeared in the series already!
See you
next time! ^_^
