The Year of Robo Chapter 20
September 2300
By Robo
September 1, 2300
All the soldiers from the Keeper's Dome were ready to begin the invasion of Mother Brain's strongholds. Each soldier carried the standard laser rifle as well as a smaller but still powerful blaster. The soldiers of higher ranks carried much more powerful phaser rifles rather than a laser rifle. Each soldier was now equipped with a new weapon as well, the fire blaster which shot a steady stream of flames. It was much more powerful and easier to carry than the old flame throwers they used in the previous battle. In addition, they now wore silver battle armor, vaguely resembling the armor of Guardia soldiers in the year 600 A.D. This was a war they were prepared to win.
Davis was ready for battle. He had insisted that they delay the battle until the beginning of September so that his arm would have time to heal. Everyone knew that this was the aging warrior's last battle, but Davis considered it the most important of any battle he had fought in.
Belthasar was also ready for tomorrow's invasion. He still wore his old clothes from the Kingdom of Zeal, but now had a small staff he could use to intensify the power of his spells. Next to him stood Doan who now held a sword at his side instead of the gun he usually carried. It was the Rainbow Sword. He had found it among the weapons in storage and claimed it for his own, considering the fact that he was Crono's descendant. Rachel still had the Masamune at her side, but now was wearing the Hero Medal around her neck. She had never worn it in battle before, she felt she never needed it. But this last battle would be her toughest yet, and the Hero Medal would give the Masamune the extra energy she needed to see her through this upcoming battle.
"What do we do know?" asked Doan. "I can't think of anything to pass the time until we set out tomorrow."
"Tell me about it," Rachel laughed. "Would you look at all the soldiers that are camping outside the dome so that they will be ready to go tomorrow at a moment's notice."
"Be patient," replied Belthasar. "You can't wait to leave now, but once we engage the Mother Brain's forces, you'll be wishing you were safe at home."
"Aww, be easy on them," said Davis, walking up. "I've been through one battle after another for well over the last thirty years and even now I feel like a little kid. Just think, after 187 years of war, we're at the brink of victory." He looked at Rachel and Doan, then grinned. "I have the same feeling as you two, I can't think of a way to pass the time until tomorrow morning."
"Excuse me," said a voice. Robo walked up, and greeted the four of them. "I cannot help but overhear that you would like to find a way to pass the time. Perhaps I may entertain you with a story."
"What kind of story?" asked Belthasar.
"Well, Miss Rachel and myself were gone for quite some time on what I am sad to say was a relatively unsuccessful mission," Robo said. "I can entertain you with one of our stories."
"You and Rachel have been telling us those stories all last month," said Doan. "I've heard them all."
"Even how we managed to make our way through the Sewer Access?" Rachel asked.
"Yes!" cried Davis and Belthasar in unison.
"Shut up," Doan said. "I haven't that one yet. Let me hear it."
Robo started to tell the story, "It all began-"
"Why not let me tell the story?" insisted Rachel. "Look Robo, no offense, but you can make an otherwise exciting story very dull." She ignored his mumbling about the rudeness of some humans and continued, "Robo and I had just escaped from our cells in the Geno Dome. We were surrounded by six of the Mother Brain's sinister XR-Series. They were blocking the exit and we had no time to kill them so I washed them away with a wave of water. Suddenly hundreds of robots in came into the room. We were lucky to make it outside before their first shots were fired. We had little time. We hopped into the Teleporter and Robo typed in the coordinates. We disappeared in a bright flash. When we reappeared, we were inside the cold and clammy Sewer Access. It was the best we could do, for of all of the places the Mother Brain had established transportation, the Sewer Access was the closest to the Keeper's Dome. Though it seemed to make little difference. By the time we would have returned, you would not have needed the information we gathered, for you all had already experienced the wrath of the dreaded XR-Series. Still, if we could clear out the Sewer Access while we were there, we could gain immediate transportation between the Keeper's Dome and the main continent. We made our way through the light less halls of the sewers, they were as black as a midnight sky. I walked in front while Robo stayed behind to make sure no hideous demonic creature of the Mother Brain was sneaking up on us. We did not have much time to become bored, because we soon were met by a gigantic creature. The best way I can describe it was as a giant centipede. The thing was nearly one hundred feet long. I swung my sword high over my head and brought on down upon this horrible mistake of nature. The freak let out a blood curdling scream as I cut along its body and many of its internal organs, covered in pus, spilled onto the floor. It swung its massive tail and hit me in the head. I tried to move out of the way in attempt to move out of the way, but I was hit nonetheless. One of its spikes cut across my forehead," she said, pulling her greenish hair back and revealing a small scar across her forehead. "Robo ran to my assistance, but its tail wrapped around him and Robo was lifted high into the air. I sliced my sword as hard as I could and managed to chop off its tail. Robo hit the floor with a loud crash. He used his Fire Beam and burnt a hole in the centipede. The room filled with the sickening smell of burning flesh. I raised my sword and pointed at the beast's head, then using my magic, chunks of ice flew forward and pierced through its skull. Robo and myself quickly ran off and let the creature to die a long and horrible death," she looked at Belthasar, Davis, and Doan. Rachel smiled as she saw them trying to hide a face of disgust. "Of course, we ran into other mutants and creatures but nothing compared to that. Except for one beast. It was at least ten feet tall, with the sharpest claws I've ever seen on its fingers and toes. It had thick scales that were a pain to penetrate through. But the most creepy of all was its small yellow eyes, they seemed to look through your body and straight through your soul," she looked at Robo and added quickly, "pardon the expression."
"Davis and I ran into a beast that matches your description perfectly," said Doan quickly. "Tell them, Davis."
"I thought we were going to die," shuddered Davis. "Nothing we attacked with affected the thing."
"We ran into the same problem," added Rachel. "My Water magic just knocked it down, but I knew we were in trouble when the Masamune could not pierce its scales. Fortunately, Robo said he had dealt with creatures of this type before. He used his Shock, then his Bolt Beam. Sure enough, its defenses were lowered. It swung its claws at me, but I quickly and cleanly cut its right arm off with my sword. Robo knocked the monster unconscious with his Prism Fist. It hit the floor and Robo used Shock again to make sure that its defenses stayed down. I summoned a larger than life icicle and it stabbed through the great monster's heart. We were sure that it was dead. That was our only other major battle. We ran into a few more mutants but we quickly reached the exit. As we ran out, I pulled out a small canister of a deadly gas that I smuggled from the Geno Dome. I activated it and quickly ran out with Robo. The mutants we did not kill were surely taken care of by the poison. We ran as fast as we could to the Keeper's Dome, and you all know the story from there."
"You said you filled the Sewer Access with poison gas," Belthasar commented, "but will the gas have cleared out by now? We have a great number of soldiers who will be using the Sewer Access tomorrow and the last complication we need is to worry about poisonous fumes."
"Worry not," Robo answered. "It has been well over a month since the release of the gas. I can assure, no harm shall come to our soldiers tomorrow morning. If you do not mind, I will shut down for the night. I perform much more effencently if I have small periods of rest and recharging now and then."
"That's not a bad idea," said Davis. "By the way, Rachel, best story I've ever heard. Robo told it to me before, but I never remembered it that scary."
"Most likely because I am still a stranger to such concepts like fear, happiness, and other basic human emotions," replied Robo. "I am glad, however, that you had the opportunity to enjoy it better this time. Perhaps tomorrow's attack will become an even more interesting story."
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