New Orleans
Ranshin Robo eyed
the six other figures in 'Hey, Pizza!' and stroked
its metal lips with its mechanical tongue.
Corkscrew-tipped fingers clanged together as it
rubbed its hands gleefully and stared at what it
considered nothing more than prey. After
first examining its mechanised companion, Tejina
Robo, it paused to stare at each of the restaurant's
other occupants until, at last, its eyes rested on
Rose Brachis.
"I'm going to
destroy all of you," the robot said.
"But you, Rose Brachis... I was made
especially for you."
"Well, that definitely
isn't happening," Senshi told the robot.
"And you will
stop me... how?" Ranshin Robo asked.
"Tejina Robo made short work of you earlier
today."
"I'm still
alive," Senshi replied. In a lot of pain,
but alive.
Ranshin Robo shook
its head.
"Enjoy that
while you can," it said. It stared directly into
Senshi's eyes. "Ranshin Ray!"
Two thin beams of
purple energy arced from the robot's eyes and pierced
Senshi's own. Instinctively, he staggered back, and
raised his right hand across his face to shield his
eyes from any further damage from the blast; but, he
quickly realised, there was no damage. The
attack did not hurt and he could see clearly.
"Senshi!"
Cog shouted. "Throw your arm out to the right
and say 'Robo Change!'"
 |
Senshi did as he was told. As
the twin energy beams faded he shot his right
arm directly out to his side and shouted "Robo
Change!". For an instant, the
inside of 'Hey, Pizza!' seemed to turn very
dark and time slowed as tiny sparks of light
ran along the thin mesh of circuitry embedded
beneath Senshi's skin. The light was bright
enough that as Senshi looked down at his body
he could see the network of wires, even
through his skin and the material of his
robosuit. My god -- ! Senshi
thought. What is that?! I never felt --
The light
grew brighter as it passed over certain
points in the wires, and at those points
thick, jagged pieces of metal burst through
Senshi's skin and tiny pores in the black
fabric of the robosuit, only to expand, grow
and reshape itself on the suit's surface as
silver boots, gloves and a thick metal
chestplate. The same metal expanded from the
neck of the suit to cover Senshi's face and
head to form an equally thick metal helmet.
As light
seemed to fill the area around him once more
and light returned to normal Senshi noticed,
displayed on the inside of the visor, a list
of commands. They scrolled back and forth
across his eyes, and it took a deliberate,
concerted effort to will them away so that he
could focus entirely on Ranshin Robo, who was
advancing towards Doctor Brachis.
"Doctor
Brachis!" he shouted.
Almost
instinctively, Senshi leapt into action. Just
as when Tejina Robo had confronted Sorceress
Miko earlier in the day, Senshi rushed
forward and placed himself between Doctor
Brachis and Ranshin Robo's twisting,
corkscrew-like fingernails.
|
"Senshi!"
Brachis gasped. "Watch out!"
Ranshin Robo raised
its right hand and above its head and, fingers
outstretched, tried to bring its arm down to slash
its sharp, twisted claws across Senshi's Roboman
armour, but Senshi was too quick for it - he reached
up with both hands and wrapped them around the
robot's wrist, and used all of his strength to push
the deadly hand away.
Ranshin Robo did not
seem concerned.
"Tejina
Robo...?" it prompted calmly.
Tejina Robo nodded -
at least, the bizarre, misshapen mechanical limb that
had temporarily taken residence where the robot's
head should be bobbed up and down vigorously, and the
constantly-shifting robot hurried across the room. As
it moved, its right arm began to change - it drew it
back, and when it again brought the arm forward, it
was completely different; it had flattened and
lengthened into a sharp, pointed metal blade.
A blade aimed
directly at Senshi's unarmoured stomach.
"Do something,
Trick-san!" Kageki cried.
Trick ran forward
and threw all of his weight against Tejina Robo's
right arm. The robot fell onto its side and its
blade-hand pierced the floor. It quickly withdrew it
and swung it around at Trick, who barely managed to
leap backwards to avoid it.
"Get Doctor
Brachis away from here!" Senshi shouted.
He pulled his left
hand away from Ranshin Robo's right wrist and used it
to firmly grasp the robot's other forearm; then,
suddenly, he lifted his legs off the ground, pulling
down on Ranshin Robo with his entire body weight.
The robot fell
forward, pushing Senshi down with it. As soon as his
back touched the ground Senshi raised his legs again,
pressing his knees against Ranshin Robo's stomach. He
pushed up with all of the strength his thighs could
muster and flipped the robot into the air. He let go
of Ranshin Robo's flailing arms and allowed the
machine to sail several feet across the room.
Behind Senshi,
Kageki scooped up Cog and the remaining Alert Bracer,
then hurried over to Doctor Brachis. He placed his
hand in hers and tried to pull her through the
kitchen and out through the back of the store, but
she pulled against him - she wasn't moving.
"I will not
leave without Senshi," she said. "Give me
the robosuit!"
Kageki looked down
at Cog, who was nestled in the palm of his left hand.
Cog shrugged.
"I think Cog is
the best choice!" Cog said. "But it's up to
him!"
Kageki took a deep
breath.
"Okay," he
said. He handed Cog to Doctor Brachis, and took
another look at the green robosuit which covered his
body. Then, he slipped the Alert Bracer onto his left
wrist and turned back to the fight.
"What?!"
Brachis cried. "But you - "
"I'm going to
help Trick-san!" Kageki shouted. He touched his
right shoulder with his left hand, then swung his
left hand across his body and stuck it straight out
to the side. "Robo Change!"
Just
as it had happened when Senshi initiated his own henshin,
everything around Kageki appeared to go dark and
time almost seemed to stand still. He closed his eyes
as the circuitry embedded beneath his skin started to
glow and the metal pieces which would reform as
silver boots, gloves, a chestplate and helmet pierced
both his skin and his robosuit to form the full
Roboman armour.
After
a period which was only a few seconds for everybody
else but seemed like an eternity to Kageki,
everything around him returned to normal. He glanced
at Senshi, who deftly ducked a right hook thrown by
Ranshin Robo.
Ranshin
Robo's movements seemed, to Kageki, to be both random
and refined. It was almost as if the robot was
putting no plans into his attacks but, at the same
time, was so practiced in its hand-to-hand combat
that despite giving the little thought it gave to its
next movement, it executed each movement perfectly -
and Senshi seemed equally well-trained, able to evade
each assault but, due to Ranshin Robo's randomness,
was unable to strike back.
Kageki
turned his head to stare at Trick, who was managing
only to keep out of Tejina Robo's way. The robot's
constantly changing form made a strike of any sort
impossible - Trick would swing his fist as the
robot's arm, only to have that arm move away and
reappear as a third leg.
What
should I do? Kageki wondered as lines of
commands appeared inside his helmet. He did his best
to ignore them, and they quickly faded. That's
it!
Kageki
ran forward and wrapped his arms around Ranshin
Robo's neck. He pulled back as hard as he could, and
although it strained every muscle in his arms and
back the young Roboman managed to pull the robot's
head back so far that it was staring at the ceiling.
Senshi
did not hesitate to take the chance to attack. He
pulled back his right, armoured fist and punched with
all the strength he could muster. His metal glove
broke through the metal covering Ranshin Robo's
stomach, exposing a mess of tangled wires.
Ranshin
Robo lashed out blindly with his clawed hands, but
Senshi was prepared - he took hold of the robot's
wrists and forced the hands inside Ranshin Robo's
exposed body. Orange and silver sparks burst from the
robot's damaged interior, and both Kageki and Senshi
moved away.
"Trick-san!"
Kageki cried. Again he rushed forward, but this time
he was stopped by Senshi's outstretched arm.
"Let
me," he said simply. Kageki hesitated for a
moment, then nodded.
But
Senshi did not attack. Instead, he watched. He
examined Tejina Robo's movements as it avoided each
of Trick's failed attempts to punch or kick at it.
For long moments, all he did was stare.
"Senshi-sen
- !" Kageki started to call out.
"Quiet!"
Doctor Brachis whispered. "He knows what he's
doing!"
"But
Trick-san - "
Before
Kageki could finish his sentence, Senshi finally
moved. Tejina Robo had again taken on a reasonably
human shape, with a clearly defined head, arms and
legs. Senshi leaned forward, lunging out with his
left leg, and reach forward with both hands. As he
moved, so did Tejina Robo's head and left arm, but as
Senshi grabbed both of the robot's arms and pulled
hard to keep them from moving, the head also remained
in place.
"Trick?"
he offered.
Trick
nodded and pulled back his fist. He struck Tejina
Robo's motionless head with one solid punch. Pain
ripped through cracked knuckles and strained, tense
tendons in his hand and wrist but, Trick thought, the
pain was worth it to see the robot stopped.
Tejina
Robo slumped back against Senshi, who released its
arms and allowed it to fall flat on its back against
the floor.
"That
was easy," Senshi gloated. He concentrated for a
moment and dropped his henshin; the silver
armour faded, leaving the man remaining in the black
robosuit.
"Too
easy," Trick said. "It isn't possible
for my one punch to have knocked out Tejina
Robo."
"You're
right."
Senshi,
Trick and the still-armoured Kageki turned to see
Ranshin Robo standing beside Doctor Brachis, with one
corkscrew-tipped hand wrapped around her neck. The
damage done to its body by Senshi's attack appeared
to be completely repaired, with a pale purple glow
quickly fading around the edges of the repaired
components.
It
raised its free hand and gestured across the room,
scattering purple mist as it passed. The mist settled
on Kageki, Senshi and Trick, who started to wriggle
and struggle in place, as if somehow bound by ropes
or chains.
Doctor
Brachis kicked Ranshin Robo in the shin, but the
robot seemed unfazed. She tried to duck away from its
grasp, but it simply tightened its hold on her neck -
one false move would tear her throat to shreds.
"Doctor,
Rose Brachis has been contained," Ranshin Robo
said loudly.
"So
it would appear," Doctor Nagura's
voice echoed loudly through 'Hey, Pizza!' as it
emerged from a speaker somewhere on Ranshin Robo's
body.
"Doctor,
Tejina Robo has been defeated," Ranshin Robo
added.
"Bring
him with you."
Ranshin
Robo nodded and, dragging Brachis by her
still-vulnerable throat, crossed the room to kneel
beside Tejina Robo. It pressed its hand more tightly
around Doctor Brachis neck and pressed the palm of
its free hand on Tejina Robo's chest. Blue raido
energy shimmered around all three figures and,
only a moment later, they disappeared.
Only
a moment before 'Hey, Pizza!', and the block
surrounding it, exploded into a flattened, fiery
mess, leaving only burning wreckage that even the
raging storm outside would not be able to douse or
wash away - and in the instant before the trapped
Kageki, Senshi and Trick were each impaled by
shattered wood and quickly burned to ash, they knew
that they were not the only ones to die; every single
home, business and person on the block had been
destroyed; and it was entirely their fault, because
they chose to take their fight to 'Hey, Pizza!'...
Ranshin
Robo reappeared inside a featureless, rectangular
metal room, but it was not alone. At its feet lay
Tejina Robo, and Doctor Brachis was still firmly
within its grasp. Lined up along the wall beside him
were three other robots - Ranma Robo, Jigenseisokuka
Robo and Denshi Robo, and in front of each lay the
inert, unconscious form of one of the Robomen.
"With
Tejina Robo's defeat, Sorceress Miko has escaped
me," Doctor Nagura's voice seemed to come
from every corner of the room at once. The robots did
not react, but Brachis began to tremble. "Ranma
Robo! Denshi Robo! Jigenseisokuka Robo! Find her -
and do not waste time bringing her to me. Destroy her
wherever she stands!"
The
three robots saluted and, a second later, disappeared
in a shower of blue energy.
"As
for you, Ranshin Robo, Rose," Doctor Nagura
continued, "you will remain here with
me..."
"Where
are we?" Rose asked. Ranshin Robo tightened its
grip, and Rose felt the corkscrew tips scraping
across her throat.
"We
are inside Katrina, in the heart of New
Orleans," Nagura explained. "Hidden
from the prying eyes of anyone who might seek to
destroy us. But with the Robomen defeated..."
"Doctor
Nagura!" Ranshin Robo interjected. "Doctor
Brachis delivered the two robosuits expected to be in
her possession to men here in New Orleans."
"What?!"
Nagura cried.
"They
have been taken care of," Ranshin Robo
explained, "and they have suffered
greatly."
"Then
there is no reason to expend further kenez
energy rendering Katrina invisible," Doctor
Nagura said. "There. Now New Orleans can see
the beautiful, bold mechanical face of its
destroyer."
