New Orleans
"Let's go, Robo!"
Ikku, Sei and Kiko
shouted in unison as they chased the small robot down
the long and deserted alleyway behind the shopping
centre where Kiko worked. Darkness seemed to close
around them as the circuitry embedded beneath their
skin activated, sending jagged pieces of metal
through pores in their skintight robosuits. The metal
fused together and formed shiny silver metal gloves,
boots, a chestplate and a helmet to protect them in
any potential skirmish.
The robot they
chased, however, seemed hardly worth the effort. It
was only five feet tall and had a skeletal frame; the
only element of it with any bulk was a large oval
tank attached to its back. It did not even seem
terribly menacing - since they noticed its arrival
three or four minutes earlier, it had succeeded only
in snatching a purse from one of Kiko's workmates.
"This is
crazy!" Ikku said. "Why would a robot come
here just to steal someone's bag?"
"Maybe they
thought it was me!" Kiko suggested.
"The greater
concern should be who created the robot and
sent it here," Sei told them. "Director
Satoshi was destroyed with Blizzard Base Zero."
"Who else knows
how to create robots?" Kiko asked. "Only
Doctor Nagura!"
"My father
would never send a robot to steal someone's
purse," Ikku told her. "Let's just catch
this thing, and we can - ACHOO! - ask it who
built it!"
Kiko stopped
running. The boys rushed past her but, when they
realised she was no longer moving, they stopped and
turned back.
"Yellow Robo,
we must - " Sei began.
"No!" Kiko
said. "I knew you were sick, Ikku! You
came back from the Amazon with that cold and you said
you were fine, but you didn't rest and now
look!"
Ikku put his hands
on his hips.
"I am fine!
It was one sneeze!" he argued.
"Now come on, before - OW!"
Ikku whirled around
to see the small robot at the other end of the alley,
jumping up and down with delight, and noticed a
crumpled soft drink can at his feet. The
seemingly-harmless robot had thrown the can with
enough force that Ikku felt it even through his thick
helmet.
"That's
it!" he shouted and began running again.
"Ik - I mean,
Red Robo!" Kiko called after him. He stopped.
"Let me!"
Kiko put one foot
forward and, to Ikku and Sei, seemed to vanish into a
yellow blur. She streaked past them and out the other
end of the alleyway, into the street beyond. They
hurried to follow her and soon caught up, as she had
cornered the small robot in another alley and stopped
to confront it.
"Okay!"
Ikku said enthusiastically. He reached for his Robo
Rifle, kept secure in a brown leather holster just
beneath his chestplate. He drew it and levelled it at
the small robot's head. "Hand over the bag and
tell us who sent you."
The robot looked at
the bag in its hand and then at the ground. It seemed
to Ikku that it was considering its options. After a
moment, it looked up at Ikku, leaned forward, and
stuck out a mechanical tongue to blow him a
raspberry.
"Why you -
!"
Ikku squeezed the
trigger on his Robo Rifle, releasing a bolt of
invisible energy that struck the centre of the
robot's head - at least, it struck the robot, where
its head had been. The robot seemed
undamaged, however, as its body was immersed in red kenez
energy and it grew; from five feet to fifteen
feet, to one hundred and fifty feet, up to five
hundred feet.
"Oh,
great..." Ikku moaned as the robot's sides
struck the edges of buildings, sending concrete and
mortar falling to the street below.
"Guys...!"
Kiko and Sei nodded
to acknowledge their understanding.
"Phase
Three!
Go, Robo Vehicles!"
Amid a sparkle of
blue energy, that mechanical components of the
Robomen's armour separated from their bodies and
hovered in the air before them. Quickly, the metal
expanded, transformed and changed - changing colour
and fusing together to form the large yellow
Lightning Jet, Flame Tank and Water Cutter.
Sei raised his left
hand and pressed a sequence of buttons on his bulky
Alert Bracer, which he had spent most of the week
following his capture in the Amazon rainforest
repairing. A moment later, the voice of Cog - the
Robomen's two-inch tall robotic ally - could be heard
loudly exclaiming "Robo Fusion!"
"Robo
Fusion!" the Robomen repeated in
unison.
Suddenly,
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.
"Gattai
Robo..." Ikku whistled appreciatively.
"This is... what? The fifth time we've gattaied?
I don't think I'll ever get used to it!"
Gattai
Robo rocked backwards as the purse-snatching robot
shoved it aggressively. As the Robomen manipulated
their controls to keep Gattai Robo from falling, the
other robot danced around them, jumping up and down
and sticking out its metal tongue. It shoved its
thumbs inside its ears and wiggled its fingers then
turned its back on them and, after sticking out its
backside, shook it back and forth.
"Is
that thing serious?" Ikku asked.
"Is he fighting us or playing with
us?"
"Vertex
Shield," Sei said. There was a blue glow as
the round, semi-transparent blue shield materialised
and attached itself to Sei's right wrist. Outside, a
larger version of the same shield appeared on Gattai
Robo's right wrist. Sei slowly moved the shield in
front of his body, a movement emulated by Gattai
Robo. "We should not take any risks."
The
other robot scuttled around without changing his
pose. At his size, it took a few seconds for him to
turn all the way around and face the Robomen, but
when he did, he seemed unfazed by the shield.
["Give
up!"] Ikku said, and his voice emerged from
Gattai Robo's mouth so that his opponent - and half
of New Orleans - could hear him. ["Surrender or
we will destroy you."]
The
robot shook its head.
"We
warned him," Ikku said. He turned to Kiko.
"Are you ready?"
Kiko
nodded. "Electro Blaster!"
Blue
energy swirled around Kiko's right hand as the
yellow, handgun-sized Electro Blaster appeared
between her fingers. As with the Vertex Shield, a
larger but otherwise identical weapon appeared in
Gattai Robo's hand - and as Kiko raised her weapon to
aim at her enemy, Gattai Robo raised its own.
The
other robot stood upright.
"Kiko..."
Ikku said. "Don't fire."
The
other robot bowed its head slowly, then dropped to
its knees. It cradled its face in its hands and made
loud, sobbing noises. Cautiously, the Robomen
approached and placed Gattai Robo's free, massive
left hand on the other robot's shoulder.
["It's
okay!"] Kiko said through Gattai Robo's mouth.
["We don't want to hurt you. Really!"]
The
robot looked up at them. A broad grin was etched
across his face, but it was only visible for a
moment; he dropped his head again, aiming the top of
the large tank he carried on his back directly at
Gattai Robo's head, and shouted "Numeri!"
The
tank began to spin, and although Sei moved quickly to
place Gattai Robo's gigantic Vertex Shield between it
and the other robot, it was too little too late;
thick, viscous browl liquid shot from a small opening
at the top of the tank and spilled across Gattai
Robo's head, torso and exposed arm. The Vertex Shield
and Electro Blaster faded into nothingness... and
Gattai Robo froze.
"We
can't move!" Ikku exclaimed. "Why can't we
move?"
"Gattai
Robo's right arm is fused to its torso," Sei
said. "I cannot separate them."
"Our
feet aren't going anywhere either!" Kiko
shouted. "Guys...!"
The
other robot stepped forward and placed a closed fist
meters in front of Gattai Robo's forehead - but at
their scale, it may as well have only been a few
inches. It stared closely into Gattai Robo's eyes
then, still grinning, flicked its forehead hard. The
cockpit inside Gattai Robo's body shook violently but
the head itself, held in place by the brown goo, did
not move.
The
robot waved playfully and, again suffused with bright
red kenez energy, it shrank back to its tiny
five-foot size and ran from the scene.
"What
do we do now?" Kiko asked. "I have to get
back to work!"
"We...
ACHOO!" Ikku sneezed again. "I
don't know. Sei?"
"We
cannot disassemble Gattai Robo in its current
state." He tapped a number of buttons on his
Alert Bracer again and spoke into it. "Cog? We
require your assistance."
They
waited and within seconds, the cockpit was
illuminated by the blue glow of raido energy heralding
the arrival of the tiny mechanoid. She glanced around
the room until her eyes settled on Ikku.
"You
don't look well!" she told him.
"I
told you!" Kiko said. "Ikku, you
have to go home and rest!"
"After
we sort this - ACHOO! - mess out!" he
replied.
"Neither
of you can help now," Sei said. "You should
leave. I will contact you if we need you here."
"But
the robot...!" Ikku protested.
"The
robot can wait until I'm back from work." Kiko
crossed the cockpit and took Ikku's hand. "Go
home, Ikku."
"But
- "
"NOW!"
Elsewhere
"What
do you mean 'it got away'?"
Director
Satoshi paced around the perimeter of his office,
glancing only occasionally at the black-clad form of
Damien Sinclair, who stood patiently at the centre of
the room. Satoshi seemed to be counting his steps as
he walked, focussing more on that effort than
anything Sinclair had said - until Sinclair mentioned
the escape of one of the director's sentient robots.
"Mochi
Robo used its numeri fluid on the battalion of Gears
that was guarding it and fled, taking all of our kenez
and raido shards with it,"
Sinclair explained.
"I
am not impressed, Guardian!" Satoshi snapped. He
stopped pacing around the room and approached
Sinclair. The older man leaned in so that his face
was only inches away from that of his subordinate.
"First you arrive back from London with severe
damage to Chojin Robo, and now you tell me you cannot
contain a single, minor, incomplete robot,
even with an entire battalion of Gears to back you
up?"
"Yes,
sir."
Satoshi
shook his head solemnly.
"I
am beginning to wish I had accepted Doctor Brachis'
candidate for Operation: Guardian, even knowing that
he was a spy," he said. "So far, your only
value has been in delivering information regarding
the effects of combining jera and raido
energy. Your trip to the parallel universe of
Fait Accompli might be of use to me yet."
He
rubbed his chin as he considered his options.
"No,
I suppose you're not completely useless.
It's those damned artificial intelligence chips! Only
Nagura knew how to install them properly, and now
that he is dead I fear we may never be able to repeat
the success we had with Buki Robo and Chojin
Robo."
Except
he isn't dead, Sinclair thought. At
least... he didn't die when Buki Robo exploded inside
Blizzard Base Zero. Maybe I should find out...
"Find
out for me," Satoshi said, snapping Sinclair out
of his thoughts. "Find out what Mochi Robo is
doing, where it is, and bring it back to me. I don't
care how, but I want that robot. More importantly, I
want my eternity shards!"
Sinclair
nodded.
"There's
more," he said. "Mochi Robo managed to
freeze Gattai Robo in place in the middle of New
Orleans."
"Without
kenez shards, we cannot change the size of
our robots enough to cause Gattai Robo any
damage," Satoshi told him. "Find Mochi Robo
before the Robomen repair their robot, then do
whatever your must to destroy it once and for
all."
Later
Ikku
sat in the back room of 'Hey, Pizza!', absentmindedly
switched on the small television Trick kept there. It
was the middle of the day, and Ikku knew there would
be nothing on worth watching. As the image appeared
on the screen, Ikku realised he had forgotten one
thing:
Giant
robots in the middle of a city were still big news.
Every
channel featured live news coverage of Gattai Robo,
still frozen in place in the heart of the city. Their
battle had taken place only a short walk from 'Hey,
Pizza!' and, Ikku realised as he listened carefully,
the restaurant was already full of customers, many of
whom were probably getting something to eat on their
way to or back from seeing Gattai Robo.
Stupid
Kiko! Ikku thought. I should be helping
somehow. I'm not even - "ACHOO!" -
sick!
He
continued to cycle through the channels until one
managed to stand out; the images it showed were still
ones of live news coverage, still in New Orleans, but
featuring an altogether different robot. Footage from
a security camera was shown, featuring the small
robot the Robomen had so recently faced as it fled
through the back door of a bakery, its goods all
either destroyed or stolen.
The
security footage disappeared and a reporter stood
interviewing the bakery's owner, who angrily
explained what had happened - the robot had burst in,
tried to eat the cakes and pies on display, and when
it realised it could not it placed whatever it could
in the tank on its back and smashed the rest.
What
is it trying to do? Ikku wondered. It sounds
like it just wants to - "ACHOO!"
"That's
it!" Ikku said to himself. "I'm not staying
here. I'm going to find that robot!"
He
got to his feet and pulled on a long black trenchcoat
and brown boots to cover his robosuit. He stepped
through the plastic doors separating the back room
from the rest of the restaurant and pushed his way
through the dozens of customers that were packed
within its walls and spilled out into the street
beyond. The street, too, was filled with people -
Gattai Robo was quite the attention-grabber.
He
passed through the crowd unnoticed and soon found
himself back in the alleyway where the Robomen had
first confronted the robot; at its far end lay the
purse the robot had stolen. Ikku rushed over and bent
to pick it up.
As
he checked to make sure nothing had spilled from the
bag when it was dropped, he felt something thick and
sticky drip onto his neck. Reflexively, he looked up,
just in time to see a thick, creamy, custard pie
before it struck his face and splattered back through
his hair.
"What
the...? ACHOO!" he sneezed again, sending the
thick filling flying in all directions. He pawed the
sticky mess out of his eyes and looked up again to
see the small robot, dangling precariously from a
tiny hole in the alley wall, laughing hysterically.
At
least, it looked like it was laughing. No
sound came from its mouth, and Ikku finally realised
the only word it had spoken was 'Numeri', when it
attacked Gattai Robo.
He
took one step towards the robot, which immediately
stopped laughing and pulled away from him.
"Wait!
Don't run away!" Ikku tried to reassure it.
"I don't want to hurt-CHOO!" He sneezed
again, and when he opened his eyes the robot was upon
him. It shoved him to the ground and tried, again, to
take the purse.
"Let
- ACHOO! - go - ACHOO!" Ikku shouted. "We
don't - ACHOO! - want - ACHOO!"
The
robot squatted over Ikku's chest and appeared to
laugh again. It raised one hand high above Ikku's
face and, before the red-garbed Roboman could react,
it brought it down against his left cheek, rendering
him unconscious with a single blow.
