CAST
THE
ROBOMEN
THEIR ALLIES
OTHERS
| FIRE-PIXIE |
HEATWAVE |
SORCERESS
MIKO |
 |
 |
 |
-ACT II-
THE TIME:
April 7th, 2010
10am
"I can't
believe it, guys!" Kiko cried as she walked down
the street outside 'Hey, Pizza!'. Behind her, Sei and
Ikku walked solemnly, each carrying half a dozen bags
and boxes full of Kiko's shopping. "We finally
got to get out of those robosuits!"
Sei nodded.
"Cog needed to
analyse them to ensure that they were not permanently
damaged during any of our battles," Sei said.
"While we know the material repairs itself, they
had not been sufficiently tested to know how perfect
those repairs may be."
"Yeah. It feels
good to be wearing normal clothes again," Ikku
added. Ahead of him, Kiko stopped and turned
suddenly. Carefully, Sei navigated around her, but
Ikku bumped into Kiko's side and dropped all of his
packages.
"Hey!"
Kiko snapped. "I earned the money to
pay for all of that! And the clothes you're
wearing now!" She looked Ikku up and down.
"Those aren't normal clothes, by the
way. I may not be a fashion expert, but no-one I know
- well, except you - wears pre-ripped jeans and a
shirt that doesn't cover his navel."
Ikku shrugged.
"What can I
say? I like to feel the fresh air on my skin, and
it'll be getting hot soon..."
Ikku bent over to
pick up the scattered items as Kiko twirled on the
spot. She looked up and, catching her reflection in a
nearby window, smiled broadly.
"I love my new
hairdo," she said. "I couldn't get it done
like this before going to Antarctica, because of the
weather down there, but now... and these clothes!
These heels! I don't think I've ever looked
this good. What do you think, Sei?"
"I think you
are exposed," Sei replied simply.
"What?"
Kiko asked, still looking in the mirror. "Sure,
this skirt shows off my legs, but you could show a
bit of skin yourself. Why didn't you pick
out any clothes? I think you look great in the ones I
picked for you, but I had to guess which sort of look
you'd probably be going for, and the plain shirt,
vest and sla - "
"Get down,
Kiko!" Ikku shouted. He lunged forward and
tackled Kiko to the ground, snapping her right heel
in the process.
"My heel!"
Kiko cried. "Ikku, what - ?" She looked up
and saw, marching slowly across the road, three of
the clone-like, robotic automatons referred to as
Gears. She blushed. "Oh, you mean I was exposed.
To danger. I see." She took a deep breath.
"Well, they made Ikku break my heel. Let's break
them!"
"Kiko...!"
Ikku began, but before he could finish his sentence
Kiko stuck her arms out to the side, then directly
above her head, and shouted:
"Let's
go, Robo!" Nothing happened.
Kiko glanced up at her hands, then down at her body.
Again, she stuck her hands to the side, and above her
head. "Let's go, Robo!"
Laying on the ground
beneath her, Sei and Ikku looked at one another. Sei
shook his head. Ikku rolled his eyes.
"Should you
tell her or should I?" Ikku whispered.
"Miss
Sato?" Sei asked.
"Shhh, Sei! I'm
trying to henshin." Kiko replied.
"Miss Sato, you
are not wearing your robosuit. You cannot henshin."
Kiko looked down at
her body again.
"If either of
you laughs...!"
Ikku returned to his
feet and put his hand on Kiko's shoulder.
"You know, for
an expert on something as complicated as biorobotics,
you can be a bit of an airhead sometimes, Kiko,"
he said. He bent over and picked up two of Kiko's
heavy shopping bags, and handed one to her. On Kiko's
other side, Sei stood and stretched his arms across
his body. "We don't need our robosuits to fight
them, though, do we?"
Kiko and Sei shook
their heads.
"Okay, then!
Let's go!" Ikku shouted. He ran forward and
swung his shopping bag at the first Gear. "Chaos whomp!" The bag connected with the
Gear's head and sent it flying from its body, which
collapsed as the head bounced along the ground.
Several feet away,
Kiko swung her own bag through the legs of another
Gear, then stomped on its back with her remaining
heel. "Electro stomp!"
Sei
stood a few inches in front of the remaining Gear and
looked at the grinning, expectant faces of Ikku and
Kiko. He frowned, swung his heavy shopping bag into
the robot's torso, and said, calmly: "Vertex swing."
The
Gear fell flat on its back and did not move. The
Robomen watched the inert bodies for a moment. Sirens
sounded in the distance and, nodding quickly to each
other, the Robomen collected their packages and
continued their calm walk along the pavement.
"I
hate having to hide from the police," Ikku said
through gritted teeth. "We're not doing anything
wrong! And what do they do with all the bodies?
That's the third patrol of Gears we've found since
our fight with Mochi Robo."
"They
are more than likely doing what we cannot: searching
for Mochi Robo and Guardian," Sei replied.
"We cannot risk using our Roboman abilities
until we have secured a new supply of eternity
shards."
"And
we wouldn't be doing it today, anyway," Kiko
told the boys. "We deserved a day to wind
down."
"A
day where we don't have to worry about where my
father is or what Jinsei is up to or where Miko is
hiding," Ikku agreed. "Rest is good,
especially if Sei is serious about beginning to train
us to use our powers properly next week."
"If
Cog can confirm that our robosuits are in working
order, perhaps we can learn to use them to
effectively achieve our goals without relying on the
powers we gain through eternity shards,"
Sei told them. He paused for a moment, then added:
"Ian?"
"Yes,
Sei?"
"I
am always serious."
"Hah!"
Ikku laughed. He looked ahead and saw that Kiko had
again stopped to look in a store window. "Hey,
Kiko! Sei just made a joke. I think."
"Well,
maybe he can make this into a joke, because it sure
isn't funny now," Kiko replied.
Ikku
and Sei rushed to catch up to Kiko and realised that
their long walk had finally taken them to the front
of 'Hey, Pizza!'. Through the glass front of the
store they saw bright orange flame spread through the
restaurant area.
"A
fire...?" Ikku said. He dropped his bags and
rushed through the open glass doors to confront the
blaze.
"Ian!"
Sei called after him. "You cannot - "
Kiko
looked at Sei and shook her head.
"Trick
and Kageki are in there! Cog is in
there!" she shouted. She followed Ikku through
the door and looked for a way through the raging
fire.
Suddenly,
most of the flames vanished. In their place were
melted plastic seats and tables, a smoke-stained
ceiling, and two small fires burning to one side of
the kitchen. Standing in the centre of the store was
a large figure in red-and-yellow armour, with its
right hand clenched into a fist and flames licking
across its metal exterior.
"Oh!"
Kiko gasped.
"Sei...!"
Ikku called out.
"Why
does that look like our Roboman armour?!" Kiko
asked. She quickly glanced around the store.
"Trick! Kageki!"
There
was no response.
"Who
are you?" Sei asked the armoured figure.
"Why are you attempting to destroy our
home?"
"Cog!"
Kiko shouted.
"I'm
not," the intruder said. Its voice was a man's.
"I saved it."
"You
can't - " Ikku began to speak, but stopped when
a muffled voice squeaked out from the figure's closed
fist. Slowly, the fingers parted, and the 2"
black-and-grey form of Cog stood and addressed the
Robomen.
"He's
telling the truth!" Cog said. "He saved
us!"
"Where
are Trick and Kageki?" Kiko asked.
"They
left just before the fire started!" Cog replied.
"They went to find you!"
"I
told you we should have taken our Alert
Bracers!" Kiko told Ikku.
"Hey!"
Ikku responded. "How was I supposed to know
something like this would happen?"
"Who
did this, Cog?" Sei asked. "Who is
this person?"
The
armoured man placed Cog carefully down on the charred
counter and removed his helmet. The head that emerged
was well-tanned and carried long, straight black hair
which fell over the man's blue eyes in the front and
down to his shoulders on the sides and back.
"My
name's Shane. Shane Curtis," he said. "But
when I'm in the armour, I'm called Heatwave."
"Your
accent is Australian," Sei observed. "Your
armour is similar to armour we use. Our armour
includes an identical helmet, chestplate and gloves,
but lacks the armoured belt, leggings and complex
boots."
"Do
you have to call them 'leggings'?" Ikku
whispered to Sei. "Next thing we know, you'll be
calling our robosuits 'tights'."
"I
don't know about that," Heatwave said. "All
I know is that I've got to stop the woman who did
this."
Sei
turned to Cog.
"Cog,
are the robosuits fully functional?"
"Yes!"
Cog replied enthusiastically.
"Good,"
Sei said. "I suggest we put them on before
continuing this discussion. If the person who started
this fire has not been captured, they may
return."
"It's
a 'she', mate," Heatwave said as the three
Robomen walked through the plastic doors behind the
store's kitchen area. He followed them to the door
but did not pass through it. As he waited, he passed
his hands over the two fires in the kitchen, and they
were immediately extinguished.
When
he stood, the Robomen had returned. Ikku, Sei and
Kiko wore skintight red, blue and yellow bodysuits
respectively, and each was reinforced by a
silver-coloured armoured chestplate, boots and
gloves. Their heads were covered by identical
helmets, except for coloured eye slots, and a small
mark at the peak of the 'forehead', and over their
shoulders each wore a tightly-slung brown leather
holster, holding a small, handgun-sized weapon just
below and to the side of their chestplate.
"Your
armour really is like mine," Heatwave
realised. "Paint it red-and-yellow..."
"How
did you come to possess your armour?" Sei asked.
"I'm
a firefighter," Heatwave replied. "The
armour was developed as a prototype to help control
fires, and I was chosen as the test pilot. I'm still
testing it."
"What
are you doing in New Orleans?" Ikku asked.
"You're Aussie, right?"
Heatwave
nodded.
"I
told you. I've got to stop the woman that set fire to
this place. I came here to do that."
"The
woman's name isn't Miko, is it?" Kiko asked.
"No,"
Heatwave told her. "Her name is Serafina."
"And
she looks like one of Miko's Pixies!" Cog added.
"Her body was glowing with raido energy, and
she could create fire out of nothing, but I couldn't
detect any kenez energy."
Heatwave
stared down at Cog.
"You
know about eternity energy?" he asked.
"Of
course," Sei replied. "It is the basis of
our armour's powers. How did you come to be familiar
with it?"
"The
person I work for uses it. A lot of it. She collects eternity
shards."
Sei
glanced at Ikku. Ikku nodded.
"Mr.
Curtis," Sei said calmly. "You must take us
to your employer. We need eternity shards to
- "
"Are
you serious?" Kiko interrupted.
"Trick and Kageki are out there looking for us,
and this Serafina Pixie woman is trying to destroy
our home! That's our priority, Sei! Heatwave can help
us with our other problems later!"
Ikku
shrugged.
"You
are right, Yellow Robo," Sei conceded.
"Heatwave, do you know where Serafina is now?"
Heatwave
nodded.
"My
armour can track the energy signature of her
fire," he explained. "I don't know exactly
where she is, but I know which direction she's in. I
can fly straight to her."
"We
will follow you on foot," Sei explained.
"I'll
wait here in case Trick and Kageki come back!"
Cog said.
Sei
and Ikku nodded and followed Heatwave out of the
store, but Kiko lingered in the kitchen a moment
longer.
"Cog,"
she began. "You said Trick and Kageki were
looking for us, didn't you?"
"Yes!"
Cog replied.
"Why?"
