by J D Astra
“Your assessment was spot on,” I finally said to Hana. I looked up from my work, and she fed me a maki roll of eel-kip, bitter melon, seaweed, and jasmine enriched rice. It wasn’t good, but it was better than some of the other ways I’d had eel-kip and bitter melon.
Hana beamed. “Thank you. I’ve been researching machina.”
My cheeks flushed, and I cycled energy between chews. I looked back to Tuko and finished fixing up his second leg. Had Hana spent time researching bot fights just for me? That was stupid. Of course not. She was a Bastion. She was going to need to know how to manipulate machines before she could graduate.
I moved on and allowed Hana to feed me as I worked. Though I was trying to keep my full attention on the fixes in front of me, I couldn’t stop noticing Hana’s painted nails and the soft skin on her wrist as she delivered maki rolls to my waiting mouth.
This wasn’t the time to get distracted.
“Are you alright?” Hana asked, and my hands fumbled the last leg. It clattered to the ground. I reached to grab it and smashed my forehead against the table with a groan of embarrassment she mistook for pain. “Oh, Jiyong, your head!”
“I’m fine,” I said as I squinted my eyes. No. Time. For. Distractions.
I breathed deep and put my focus back on Tuko. Eun-bi’s life was on the line and I was getting butterflies in my stomach from a girl’s wrist. I gritted my teeth and imagined my little sister’s face, downtrodden and defeated, smeared with dirt as she worked away in a mine. No way. I wouldn’t let that happen.
I cycled energy into ma, chewed my food, and fixed Tuko.
Cycle.
Chew.
Fix.
Sweat dripped down my brow as I loaded the last round into Tuko’s claw.
“Five-minute warning,” the overhead speaker announced, and I wiped my forehead with the rolled-up sleeve of my dobok. I sat back in my chair and sighed. It would have to do.
“You’ve got a small leak in Tuko’s tertiary reservoir,” Mae remarked, and I closed my eyes, allowing my mind’s eye to drift along through Tuko’s systems to the leak in question. She was right, but it wasn’t big enough to warrant concern for this fight. I needed a break more than I needed to fix it.
Hands gripped into my shoulders, and I jumped, opening my eyes.
“Relax!” Hana declared, and I sat back as she worked the muscles in my neck.
Cooling zo surged down my spine and across my shoulder blades as she pushed and kneaded my tense muscles. I kept my mind sharply focused on the task before me as she worked, not allowing the touch of her cool hands on my neck to distract me from my objective.
“Enough rest, start cycling,” Mae ordered, and I complied. Tuko had a small leak, nothing catastrophic, but she was right. I would need all the munje I could get for every fight to come.
Far sooner than I felt was correct, the overhead speaker blared again, giving a one-minute warning. I stood, shook out my limbs, and rolled my neck around. I felt so much better than I had thirty minutes before.
“Thanks for being my coach,” I said gratefully, and Hana’s eyes sparkled as she grinned.
But then her face hardened, becoming stern as she put her hands on my shoulders. “Don’t come back until you’ve crushed them.”
“Roger that,” I said, imitating Mae’s slight accent.
Hana chuckled, then pushed up onto her toes and planted a kiss on my cheek. My heart thudded madly, as if trying to escape my ribcage to get to her. I held my breath as her lips slid across my cheek and pulled away.
“Fighters! Enter the ring!” the speaker blared, and I breathed once more. I looked into her amethyst eyes one last time, determination swelling in my chest. She believed in me, and so did my friends. Eun-bi was counting on me. I could do this.
I pulled Tuko up into my arms and turned for the door, my face burning. I shook my head, growing sober at the scream of the crowd when I passed over the threshold. People chanted, “Tuko, Tuko, Tuuuko!” and teal light for Tuko danced across the arena. The drums changed their pace, and the light changed to red as the opposing door opened, revealing a tall, red mohawked man in black leathers.
“Ripper,” I murmured.
“You’ve beat him before,” Mae reminded me.
‘Yes, but he knows many of my secrets. And he’s come back to challenge me for his prior defeat. He will not be an easy opponent.’ I set Tuko next to the start line, then climbed the ladder to the podium as I spoke in my mind.
I pulled my right fist to my left palm and bowed to my equal. The Ripper’s owner did the same, a smile on his face. Not one of disdain or malice, but genuine excitement. He was excited to fight me again, to show me what he’d changed and learned. He’d prepared for this night against me, extensively.
‘This is going to be the hardest fight of the night, I fear.’
“You can do this. Stay positive,” Mae tried to assure me, but in my heart, I knew we were finished. Icy doom tugged on my guts. My twelve-year-old sister would be a slave in a matter of days. My eleven-year-old sister would be left to take care of the family with a munje crippled mother and baby sister.
“Be here,” Mae reminded me.
“Fighters at the ready!” the announcer shouted, excitement thick in his voice.
I took my seat and pulled the control panel onto my lap. I banished the dreadful thoughts and focused on my first move. Jump and roll left, pick up speed and get him to chase. Turn on him in a straightaway and drop smoke, then flank.
I could do this. I’d done it before.
“Begin!” the announcer boomed, and I responded, instantly pulling Tuko into a left tuck-and-roll.
“I surrender!” my opponent yelled, and the crowd murmured with shock.
The Ripper’s owner stood, then rapped his knuckles on his chest twice, and held his fist out toward me. “I hope you save your sister, Jiyong. Now, go get that rich pungbahn Boss.”
The crowd was a mixture of boos and wild applause. He had paid to enter this gauntlet fight against me so he could surrender? How far had my story spread? I thought back to the day I’d told Ryni about it, six weeks ago. There’d been a lot of people in the bar, and any one of them could’ve heard me.
Mae simpered with joy. “He wasn’t here to crush you in retribution; it was to give you a better chance of surviving the final round against the boss.”
“Uh, the round is over... Jo-ji surrenders. The Ripper is out!” The announcer tried to amp up the energy at the end, but the crowd only grumbled in reply. People had paid to see a fight, not an opening round surrender.
“Wait!” I called to Jo-ji. “I want a rematch!”
“Back here, two weeks,” the mohawked man said as he turned away.
I nodded. “It’s a promise.”
“The fighters are calling a rematch!” The announcer tried to pull up the mood of the crowd. “Everyone here tonight will get a voucher for one free drink on the day of the Jo-ji versus Jiyong duel!”
The crowd cheered huzzahs. He’d finally figured out how to work them.
I bowed deeply to Jo-ji as he left through the opponent’s door. I had another five minutes to fix something or cultivate. I chose to repair Tuko’s leak, which I sealed with deconstructed aluminum. It was thinner than copper, but faster to melt.
The fifth round was being called before the metal had a chance to cool. Blue en munje gathered in my palm, and I flash chilled Tuko’s side. Hopefully, that would hold.
I jumped to my feet and jogged out to the arena. Just this one more fight, round five, then Boss, and I’ll win.
“That’s the spirit,” Mae said with pride.
The crowd was calling, “Umhee, Umhee,” which didn’t make any sense to me. It must’ve been a kingdom thing, or a Rabid Rabbit thing. At least, that’s what I was hoping, because if the crowd was already cheering on my opponent, they must’ve been well-known.
I set Tuko down and climbed the ladder. My opponent was already situated. When I bowed, it was as if he was
looking right through me. He did not return it. I nodded sharply as I came to the realization that this would be the hardest fight of the night. He wasn’t here for the thrill of outsmarting the opponent. He just wanted to go home with the contender’s pot.
He was here to annihilate me.
Chapter 39
“FIGHTERS AT THE READY!” the announcer said in an ostentatious voice.
I looked down at the bot I’d be battling, and my breath caught in my chest. It was a sniper type, like Tuko. Nimble with multiple legs, a tall, narrow body that was surely loaded with deadly rounds of ammunition, and a strange, ovular head with six glowing lights. I had no idea what any of that was for and was worried I’d find out all too soon.
“Begin!”
There was a loud snap-whiiiz, and a grappling hook pierced through Tuko’s leg joint. Sparks flew out from Tuko’s underbelly as he was dragged across the arena floor. I raised his claw and snapped at the wire. Tuko skidded to a halt as the line snapped and whipped back into the sniper’s bulbous head.
The hit knocked the bot back, and it staggered. Tuko hopped to his feet at my command and launched at the enemy. I closed my eyes and fired a flash-shot. The bullet detonated, and my eyelids lit up. I opened my eyes to see the opponent cringing and the crowd shouting in excitement and pain.
Tuko hopped, sailing over the opponent. I launched the hidden compartment shot straight down through the head, where the reservoir must’ve been.
But the shot bounced off! There was a shallow dent in the bot’s outer plating where the shot ricocheted off. A blue shimmer flared all around my podium, then up and around a dome protecting the crowd from the arena. By Mun-Jayu, that was thick plating. How was I going to get through that?
Tuko tucked for a role, but as he cleared the opponent, the opponent reached up with one of its many legs to bat Tuko off course. I pulled up Tuko’s legs so he’d land on his belly, not putting any added strain on the joints, but the crack to the chassis had to take another hit.
I gritted my teeth at my stupidity, but the risk of losing a leg so soon in the fight was too great. I needed to be able to run and jump if I was going to win this fight. There were two loud snaps, and silver grappling hooks zipped through the air toward Tuko. I knew the opponent’s metal was stronger than mine, but I had just reinforced Tuko’s top shell.
I took a chance and pushed Tuko’s back legs up just a bit, tilting him into the attack. The grappling hooks smashed against the titanium shell, leaving two little dents in his armor. I snapped the claw around the line as it retracted, then dug Tuko’s talon-tipped feet into the ground and prayed it would be enough to hold.
The force of the reeling line jerked both Tuko and the opponent from their feet, but I was prepared to use the momentum. I tucked all his legs and flew toward the tall, stumbling bot, this time set on a collision course. I turned my heavy plate toward him and smashed into the thin, ovular head.
I deployed all the legs and latched them onto the bot’s head. Tuko was just heavy enough to throw the bot’s carefully designed body over the edge. The sniper teetered in the other direction, and I saw the operator get more exaggerated with his controller movements. Despite his attempts, he couldn’t keep his bot on its feet.
It fell to the floor, and I saw its belly exposed. The plating was thin, the leg joints having free movement in many different directions. That’s how I was going to do this.
I reached Tuko’s claw around and latched on to one of the bot’s legs. There was another ping, and the opponent’s bot shot up, propelled by the launching of a grappling hook into the ground.
Tuko flung around, still holding tight to the leg. When he hit the floor and the angle into the chassis was good, I fired my last hollow-point round. The bang startled even me as gold munje burst out from inside the bot.
But it didn’t topple. The bot shot a grappling hook into the far wall and jerked itself out of Tuko’s grasp. It must’ve had a secondary reservoir that wasn’t hit... the gigantic head, of course.
I pursued the enemy when yet another twangy snap alerted me to how stupid I’d been. The opponent had left the other grappling hook reeled out, and I watched in horror as it dragged along the bottom of Tuko’s belly, fracturing the fix on his chassis. Gold munje leaked from my leg reservoir, and I diverted ma from the secret compartment.
Tuko stumbled forward drunkenly for a breath, then regained his composure. I still had plenty of munje to go. The sniper was already off at a gallop when Tuko barreled into it and smashed it into the wall. We’d never been brawlers, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
I clamped the claw around the base of the bot’s neck and loaded my fire explosive en-infused round. It was my only one, but it would end the fight. There was a deafening boom, and a bright red explosion blasted apart Tuko’s claw. The shot left the barrel and ripped through the armor on the bot’s neck, severing the head completely.
The opponent’s legs collapsed in a heap, but the head fired another grappling hook. The bodyless brain fired itself into the air, then into a wall, and finally the contender threw his control panel down into the arena.
He yelled with his eyes locked on me. I could see by the hate in his fiery gaze that I had made another enemy. But I had won the fifth round!
I looked down at Tuko, and my momentary joy was replaced with horror. It wasn’t just his claw that had blasted apart, it was half his body!
Okay, so, nearly half his body. I jumped down into the arena and hurriedly grabbed all of Tuko’s parts as the announcer declared my victory over “Mummy.” I was puzzled as the thought of the ancient ones in costumes of rolled up cloth appeared in my mind.
“Mummies were actually a much older thing, not just costumes,” Mae chimed in at my confusion. “Mummification included pulling out all of the internal organs and the brain.”
I cringed at the thought. ‘Makes sense now. I guess he won’t be mummifying anyone for a while.’
We chuckled quietly, enjoying the moment of levity before I remembered how dire our situation was. I tucked Tuko’s loose gears and bolts into my dobok as I ran around the arena collecting the spare parts. I scooped up as much of him as I could, then ran to the back room.
I would get ten minutes for repairs before fighting Boss. If Ryni wasn’t lying, this could be a good opportunity to show my bot repair skills and perhaps even land a second job over the planting and harvesting seasons.
“Get your head out of the clouds and back in this bot,” Mae snapped, and I shook my head. I threw all the parts down on the table and sorted through them. What the hell could I do with this in ten minutes?
“Nine minutes twenty seconds,” Mae replied.
“Thank you.” I said the words through gritted teeth and focused back down on the materials. The barrel of my strongest gun was destroyed; there’d be absolutely no fixing it. The crack in the chassis fractured and ripped at the detonation of the shot, disabling two of the legs on the left side.
We didn’t have a chance like this!
“Don’t lose hope,” Hana said as she sat beside me.
I shook my head. “I have no plan. How can I fix this?”
Hana winced. “Maybe you can’t fix him back to the way he was... but what if you could make him different?”
I racked my brain over the question. Did I have time to change his design, and fighting style? I hadn’t practiced with any other style. Why hadn’t I ever practiced another style?
Mae broke through my negative thoughts. “That was yesterday, Jiyong, and you have no power over it. You only have power over right now. Focus.”
I blew my cheeks out and looked at the limp leg joints. There were only two good reservoirs left and a handful of pieces to make modifications for firing mechanisms. I scowled and checked the razor wire compartment. It was intact, and by my best guess, functional.
I took another deep breath and got to work on my new—probably horrible—plan. This was going to be a quick fight, one way or another
.
Chapter 40
“ONE-MINUTE WARNING!” the overhead speaker blared.
Outside the room, in the arena, I heard the announcer come on. “Jiyong is about to fight Boss, and Tuko did not look good heading into that back room. Let’s see what he can pull off, but things are looking grim. Place your final bets, everyone!”
I bounced on my heels as I held the patch-quilt version of Tuko in my left hand. This had a five percent chance of working.
“More like two point one, three, five.” Mae noted and sighed.
‘Really? Thank you.’
“Just want you to have realistic expectations... but also hope! I believe that you’ll be the one in forty-eight people who could pull this off. That’s really not too bad, when you think about it.”
Hana looked me dead in the face, holding my cheeks in her hands. “You can do this. I know you can.”
I sucked down a breath and nodded. “I can do this.”
“Fighter, enter the ring to challenge Boss!”
The crowd went mad with excitement. How many of them had bet against me in the final round? They would be wrong, and I would reap the rewards. A higher bet for the opponent meant a bigger payout for me.
I stepped down into the ring and set little broken Tuko on the ground at the starting line. The cheers of the audience were drowned out by the pulse in my ears as I climbed the ladder to my fighting podium. My heart thudded a deadly rhythm with the drums around the arena. I reached the top and knelt, bowing down to the ground for the boss.
When I lifted my head, confusion swam in my head with the fear. There stood a white-haired old woman in a deathly black and red dobok, the image of a white rabbit stitched onto the chest. She smiled as my mouth fell agape. “Master Woong-ji?” I whispered then spoke up. “You? You’re the boss?”
She laughed. “It’s weird to see your instructor outside of school, isn’t it? But yes, we do have lives that don’t revolve around Bastion.”