The Year of Robo Chapter 19
August 2300 (2)
By Robo
August 10, 2300
Many robots were stunned. The jaws of the humans dropped. Few could believe that Atropos had done what she had done. Although any robot knew of the tension between Atropos and Death, no one would have guessed that Atropos would have taken it that far. The humans soldiers silently celebrated for a brief moment; Death, the strongest robot that the Mother Brain had to offer was no more, but there was a battle to be fought and the humans still had hardley put a dent in the number of XR-Series remaining.
"Attack!" shouted Atropos, once again in control and a position she felt would forever be perminently hers. That one word was all it took for the battle to resume. Human soldiers were sent to retrieve the deactivated body of Johnny and the corpse of John. Many humans were angered about the tragic loss of John, not only the fact that he was murdered, but more of the manner of his death, they did not feel that it was necessary for Death to kill John the way he did. For a moment the humans' anger gave them the advantage. Even the highly advance XR-Series couldn't keep up with the organized fire of the soldiers of the Keeper's Dome.
Of course, Atropos made it her duty to have none of that. She jumped forward and tackled humans with her version of the Robo Tackle. She sent her fist flying and was able to knock out humans from a safe distance. Following her lead, the XR-Series mimicked their leader and many metal fists were sent out, cracking the skulls of the humans that were hit. Finally Atropos fired her Area Bomb, by far her most devastating weapon. The humans didn't stand a chance when the thousands of XR-Series fired the Area Bomb as well. The humans were being pushed back and were almost forced to retreat but before they were entirely pushed back, out of the dome stepped General Davis, followed by Belthasar and a recovered Doan.
"Let's see how they handle my magic," muttered Doan as he sent lighting bolts flying. Davis organized the humans and they formed an effective strategey. Belthasar and Doan would cast spells, while Davis led the troops in a well organized fire. They did not let up and the XR-Series had little chance to counter attack.
"I think we stand a fighting chance now!" cried Davis. His soldiers cheered in response and they fired another round of shots, hitting anything in their way. But as fate would have it, Atropos siezed a laser rifle left by one of the retreating humans. She crept forward, hiding behind a tree, unseen by anyone. When she had a clear shot, she fired and hit Davis in the arm. As he fell the troops almost immediately lost their unity as they panicked.
"He's wounded!" cried one of the soldiers, running towards Davis so that he may be of help. He was shot by several XR-Series before he even had a chance to make it to his leader's side.
"I'll survive," Davis said faintly. "Do not fall for Atropos' attempt to break up our attack. She only hit me so that our soldiers would lose their concentration. You take care of their troops, then you can worry about me." He fell over, unconscious.
His words had little effect as the soldiers had no idea what do to. "Take him inside the Keeper's Dome!" cried a soldier in desperation. Davis was considered my many humans to be the their true leader. Although they were forced to trust Belthasar and Doan, but the fact that they were magic users, who suposedly died years ago, made the people more than a little nervous.
"If Davis dies, most of our troops will lose the will to fight," said Doan, observing the situation. "We may be their leaders, but it was Davis they always looked up to."
"If Davis dies, I agree that the war could very well be over," Belthasar sighed. "Where is Robo when you need him?"
Belthasar and Doan tried hard to make up for this loss, Doan concentrated and cast Luminaire while Belthasar followed up with Flare. Several enemies were taken out, but there were just too many robots and they kept coming. The soldiers had great difficulty focusing their fire so that they could take out the units. Instead they picked separate targets and fired, which slowed their progress. The XR-Series returned fire by using the Laser Spin and humans fell left and right, despite thier efforts to repel their attackers. They came closer and Belthasar was hit with an Uzzi Punch and knocked unconscious.
One approached Doan. He began to panic but managed to harness his magic quickly enough to shoot a lightning bolt at his attacker. It did not kill the robot, who continued to walk towards Doan. It stopped and fell over suddenly, dead. An unknown plasma beam destroyed the twelve XR-Series behind it. Doan looked at the robot that nearly killed him and saw a sword sticking out of its back. On its hilt was written "Melchoir." Doan thought for a minute and said to himself, "Wait a minute, isn't this Rachel's sword?" A smile came over his face.
"You have that right," came Rachel's voice. She jumped down in front of him and took her sword back. "So Doan, did you miss me?" Before he answered she asked, "Did you see Robo? He was supposed to come in from the other side."
"I am present," said Robo, stepping into view. "Mr. Doan how very nice to see you. My sincerest appoligies about the delay."
"Better late than never," Doan grumbled. "How's Belthasar's condition?"
Robo examined him and said, "It appears that it may take a minute, but I can heal him. Might I ask, where are Mr. Davis, Mr. John, and Johnny?"
"John's dead," said Doan.
"I'm so sorry," gasped Rachel. "He was very strange, but a good man." Her face showed sympathy, but even more anger towards Atropos and her soldiers.
"He will be missed," Robo said. "And the others?"
"Johnny is actively being repaired, but it is doubtful we will be sucessful. Davis is injured," finished Doan. "Can anything be done for Belthasar? He took a nasty blow to the head."
Robo fired his Cure Beam on Belthasar. It seemed like a long time since he had ever had to use it, but was now glad to have it. Belthasar's body stirred a little. "I didn't know you had healing capabilities," Rachel said.
"Actually, so do you," Robo said. "Your great ancestor, Glenn, had healing powers comparable to even Princess Nadia. Your help would greatly be appreciated. To use healing magic I believe, simply concentrate using your magic on curing someone, rather than attacking someone." Robo used his Heal Beam while Rachel cast Heal. "One more time should do it," Robo said. He used his Cure Beam once again while Rachel cast Cure 2.
Belthasar's body awoke. "Wha-what happened?" He looked around and saw the much missed duo of Robo and Rachel. "Robo! Rachel! This is indeed a fortunate turn of events! No time to explain. Robo, you go heal Davis, he's inside the Keeper's Dome. Then work on repairing Johnny, if anything can be done for him. Rachel, help me and Doan hold these units back." He got up and stopped, "Why have I such a terrible headache?"
"I'll explain later," Doan said quickly.
Doan summoned bolts of lightning while Rachel lept into the air. She came down and stabbed one of the XR-Series with the Masamune. Doan made a giant bolt of lightning strike the sword, the Spire attack. Rachel charged another robot and Belthasar cast Ice on her sword. Rachel finished off another opponent with the Ice Sword attack. A group of the XR-Series surrounded her and Belthasar cried, "Get your sword ready!" He cast Ice 2 on it and she took out the group of attackers. She did the same thing, only Belthasar cast Fire 2 this time, creating the Fire Sword 2 combination. Rachel and Doan teamed up again and used Antipode, Antipode 2, and Antipode 3, each time taking out numerous XR-Series. They teamed up once more to cast Ice Water and Glacier while Doan used Lightning 2 to take out another group of robots. The XR-Series, much to Atropos' disappointment were at this point forced to fall back. Belthasar cast Flare and Doan followed up with Luminaire, killing many more robots. The XR-Series fired their Laser Spins, knocking the three of them to the ground.
Rachel tried her hand at a healing spell and was surprised when her and the others recovered from the attack. Rachel cast Ice 2, Doan cast Lighting 2, and Belthasar cast Fire 2 creating the Delta Force. They tried a similar attack: Rachel cast Water 2 this time, Doan cast Lightning 2 and Belthasar cast Fire 2, creating the Delta Storm. This constant magic use was taking its toll on them and Belthasar was aware of this. "We need to rest for a few minutes. Using so much magic at once is never a wise idea. Let's hope the soldiers can handle things until then."
"I've never been so tired in my life," complained Doan.
"Eventually you'll build up endurance for your magical abilities," explained Belthasar. "But until you and Rachel build up endurance, using so much magic at once can have devastating effects on your body, mind, and even sanity. Just ask Queen Zeal."
"Queen who?" asked Rachel.
"Nevermind," Belthasar mumbled.
The battle was once again solely in the hands of the soldiers. They did not fight poorly, but it was obvious to Atropos that magic was the only real threat to her and the XR-Series. The advantage shifted once again to the robots who came forward, fists flying, breaking the bones and damaging the organs of the humans that got in the way. The humans remembered to concentrate their fire and a unit fell. "One!" cried the humans in unison. They continued and sent another unit crashing to the ground. Another one was destroyed. "For our wounded but respected general, Davis!" they shouted. But the XR-Series came in too fast and Atropos shouted the order for the Area Bomb. The robots released this powerful weapon and sent several dozen humans to the afterlife. The front lines tackled the humans out of the way while the XR-Series behind them finished them off with laser shots.
Doan could not sit by and watch this happen. His temper getting the better of him, he aimed his gun and fired at one of them. shot was deflected off the unit's shielding, but it took noticed of Rachel, Doan, and Belthasar. It ran towards then but Rachel leapt up and the robot was stabbed by the Masamune before he had a chance to do serious damage. "I can't believe how little damage our guns do on them," said Doan with anger as he stared at his gun.
The humans were still doing fairly well, but Doan was right. Their current weapons did not do enough damage to their opponents, but Robo had the key to defeating their nemesis. "Rachel," he asked, "do you still posess the files we obtained from the Bangor Dome? If so, would you be so kind as to hand them to me?"
"Here you go," she said, pulling out several sheets of faded paper. "I studied them but they show no weakness to the XR-Series. They are identical to yourself in most every way."
Belthasar quickly read it over and admitted, "She's right. These are quite similar to your own design. The only thing we know is that if you have a weakness, then..." he realized what he said.
"They would have that same weakness," concluded Robo. The three of them stared at Robo.
"Now all we have to know what your weakness is," said Doan. "And frankly, I have no idea."
"I believe I may provide the very answer," said Robo. "Of all the battles I fought with Crono and my friends, one of the thoughest was a battle in 65,000,000 B.C. Ayla, myself, and the others were fighting Azala and his Black Tyranno. I thought that my very circuits would melt when the Tyranno hit us with fire attacks. Except when we battled Lavos, it was the only time I had ever considered the fact that I may be damaged beyond repair, or as you humans would put it, dying."
"So you think the XR-Series are also weak against fire based attacks?" Belthasar asked.
"Indeed," Robo said. "But where can we find fire based weapons? Rachel and Doan do not use fire magic, and even Belthasar is incapible of fighting all the XR-Series himself. I am open to any suggestions."
"Beneath every dome is an enormous storage room. Every weapon ever used in the Guardia military is stored there," explained Rachel. It was a custom of Guardia to never discard an outdated weapon. Instead, they were placed in storage. "A few hundred years ago, humans used flame throwers but they eventually were outdated by newer and more powerful weapons. But they may be what we need to defeat these units."
"All right, sounds good to me," Doan said. "But is there enough to arm all our soldiers?"
"There are over six thousand of them in storage at the Keeper's Dome," Rachel said. "One of my old jobs was keeping inventory of weapons in each dome. I'll show you where to find them." Belthasar teleported them back into the Keeper's Dome and Rachel led the way to the storage room. They passed shelves of swords, spears, shields, crossbows, then rows of outdated guns and early projectile weapons. On the next shelves were the flame throwers Rachel spoke of.
Belthasar picked one up. "How do these work?" he asked.
"That's a very good question," said Doan. "These weapons have been stored down here for centuries. Do you really think they still operate?"
"Why do you have to be so negative all the time?" asked Belthasar when suddenly he activated the weapon and accidentally shot flames upward towards the ceiling, while the others ducked in fright. "I guess that answers that question," he said sheepishly.
"That's fine, but how do we transport thousands of these weapons onto the battlefield," demanded Doan.
Robo thought for a minute, then said, "I will go up to the surface and inform General Davis. He could send in groups of fifty into the dome at a time until every soldier is armed."
"Do you know how long it is going to take to arm every soldier at that rate?" argued Doan.
"Do you have a better plan?" Rachel argued back.
Doan blushed while Robo informed Davis of the situation. Half an hour later almost every soldier was armed. "Now, remember the plan," Davis said to his troops. "We make them think we have surrendered, then we let them have it." The humans kept their weapons hidden as the robots slowly moved forward. "All right, just a minute," Davis said, "all right! Let them have it!" They activated the weapons and hit the robots. Hideous shrieks and screams were heard as the robots began to melt. The humans kept marching forward, keeping in a straight line while the XR-Series fled.
"Madame Atropos, we must retreat!" shouted XR-50 to Atropos.
"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances," she said. Then she noticed the humans now armed with the flame throwers, destroying any and every opponent in their way. In a matter of minutes, they would reach Atropos and her bodyguards. "They found a way to defend themselves!" she cried. "Why, they'll be up here in a few minutes! We have to get out of here!" Hastilly Atropos ordered the retreat, making this the last attack the robots ever made on the humans.
Everyone cheered and celebrated when the robots made an embarassing retreat. It was a victory they had earned and shouts of joy filled everywhere. Inside the dome was a slightly different story. Although the people who lived inside the houses and apartments contained within the Keeper's Dome ran outside of their dwellings and into the streets of the dome for the first time in years, inside the main building an exhasperated Robo sadly told Davis, Belthasar, Rachel, and Doan, "I am sorry but Johnny has been damaged beyond repair. His life functions cannot be restored."
Doan angrilly slammed his fist onto a table. "We can't let them get away with this! I say we make the Mother Brain pay for her heinous acts!"
"Soon, my friend," Belthasar replied calmly. "Let us recover from this attack. We will not hear from the Mother Brain in a good long while. All but a handful of their XR-Series were destroyed in that battle, and I have just heard word from the Proto Dome. It seems that the robots made an attack there as well, but did not fare much better than they did here."
"Basically the Mother Brain's troops are falling left and right," said Rachel.
"That pretty much sums it up," Robo replied. "We just got another message a few minutes ago saying that a lot of their robots are pulling out of Lab 32. We will easilly be able to take control of it later this week."
"Hey," came a voice. They looked behind them and found Davis, his left arm heavilly bandaged. "I just got here. What's going on?"
"Glad to see you!" cried Doan. "You recovered much faster than usual.
Rachel threw her arms around Davis, who said, "I am getting too old to do this sort of thing anymore. Can you tell me what happened?" The others filled him in on what had been going on, then the five of them made their plans for the final battle against Mother Brain.
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