“And the winner is…”, voiced the speaker in a gigantic arena, big enough to fit six blocks of any urban 21st century metropolis, all with skyscrapers, subways, and sewers. This mini-metropolis was ritually rebuilt every week in mere ten hours, thanks to the millions of nanos dedicated to restoring the city to its initial state as if hell hadn’t run through its before, unless the league officials decided to make a structural change on the battlefield.
“RYUUUUU KOYAAAASHIIIII…!!!” screamed the commentator through dozens of virtual monitors. He was dressed up in a suit and wore white gloves, with which he pointed at the small, nearly destroyed, winning Meka. It was missing an arm, and smoke blew out of it, as it stood atop the inert rubble of a torso of its opponent. The losing Meka lay semi-buried on the pavement, dripping with foam from the anti-impact system that activated in the course of the 15-story fall that followed Ryu Koyashi’s “miraculous” dodging its charge.
Ryu didn’t hear the commentator. His ears were ringing with a deafening sound, while every alarm on his Meka went off simultaneously. His only reaction was to press the eject button, which launched him towards the partially destroyed concrete of the mini-metropolis. There, even smaller, he saw how thousands, millions of people around him stood applauding his victory amidst a cloud of pods that recorded every second of the final battle of this season’s Robot Wars Tournament.
Ryu got himself together as he heard the sirens closing in. He stood up and walked towards the mutilated and torn torso of his rival’s Meka. Stumbling, Ryu looked desperately for his enemy, whom he heard screaming during the endless seconds of his fall. He could hear him even from his hermetically sealed and noise-protected control capsule. Hear him even after turning off all radio frequencies. Hear him even with his eyes shut and his hands tightly clenched against his ears.
Ryu walked around the torso of his opponent’s Meka. The sirens wailed in the distance.
Suddenly, the pavement under his feet caved, and Ryu fell along with the rubble around him to the underground levels of the arena, which are full with train lines; huge, mine-infested water wells; and mechanical animals, part of the various settings for the Tournament. Ryu fell for seconds, minutes, or hours, he never knew. When he came to, he was facing the control capsule of his opponent’s Meka, and it was open like a hatched egg, and sunk in a deep darkness that seemed to oppose any invasion of light.
Sirens kept wailing.
Ryu got back on his feet. This time he was standing in the shadow of light that filtered through the newly opened crater. Though he had heard the sirens in the distance, he felt their sound increase as he approached the capsule. “Are they getting closer?” he wondered, but he did nothing about it, and kept walking towards the capsule.
The sirens closed in. For a second, Ryu thought that he was hearing his opponent’s screams again, growing closer, louder. Again, the screams that he didn’t want to hear.
At the edge of the capsule the sound was unbearable. Ryu was leaning against the shell with one hand, while using the other to cup one of his ears, which bled profusely. With a great effort, he climbed over the capsule. Bleeding, and mad-driven by the overwhelming noise of the screaming, Ryu finally saw into the capsule…
He woke up screaming in his tent. Sweating, he jumped up from his gurney and went to get some water. Without noticing, agitated and shaky, he went out to the semi-toxic, arid field of the Earth. He was setting foot on Earth for the first time in his life. Earth was showing him, for the first time, an unreachable horizon.
Watching the sun timidly beginning to rise on the arid plain frame the silhouette of the ruins of a human, 21st century metropolis, Ryu slowly began to calm down. He stopped sweating; stopped shaking. Only then did he hear, or rather felt, her voice for the first time:
“Hello, Ryu. Welcome home.”
“RYUUUUU KOYAAAASHIIIII…!!!” screamed the commentator through dozens of virtual monitors. He was dressed up in a suit and wore white gloves, with which he pointed at the small, nearly destroyed, winning Meka. It was missing an arm, and smoke blew out of it, as it stood atop the inert rubble of a torso of its opponent. The losing Meka lay semi-buried on the pavement, dripping with foam from the anti-impact system that activated in the course of the 15-story fall that followed Ryu Koyashi’s “miraculous” dodging its charge.
Ryu didn’t hear the commentator. His ears were ringing with a deafening sound, while every alarm on his Meka went off simultaneously. His only reaction was to press the eject button, which launched him towards the partially destroyed concrete of the mini-metropolis. There, even smaller, he saw how thousands, millions of people around him stood applauding his victory amidst a cloud of pods that recorded every second of the final battle of this season’s Robot Wars Tournament.
Ryu got himself together as he heard the sirens closing in. He stood up and walked towards the mutilated and torn torso of his rival’s Meka. Stumbling, Ryu looked desperately for his enemy, whom he heard screaming during the endless seconds of his fall. He could hear him even from his hermetically sealed and noise-protected control capsule. Hear him even after turning off all radio frequencies. Hear him even with his eyes shut and his hands tightly clenched against his ears.
Ryu walked around the torso of his opponent’s Meka. The sirens wailed in the distance.
Suddenly, the pavement under his feet caved, and Ryu fell along with the rubble around him to the underground levels of the arena, which are full with train lines; huge, mine-infested water wells; and mechanical animals, part of the various settings for the Tournament. Ryu fell for seconds, minutes, or hours, he never knew. When he came to, he was facing the control capsule of his opponent’s Meka, and it was open like a hatched egg, and sunk in a deep darkness that seemed to oppose any invasion of light.
Sirens kept wailing.
Ryu got back on his feet. This time he was standing in the shadow of light that filtered through the newly opened crater. Though he had heard the sirens in the distance, he felt their sound increase as he approached the capsule. “Are they getting closer?” he wondered, but he did nothing about it, and kept walking towards the capsule.
The sirens closed in. For a second, Ryu thought that he was hearing his opponent’s screams again, growing closer, louder. Again, the screams that he didn’t want to hear.
At the edge of the capsule the sound was unbearable. Ryu was leaning against the shell with one hand, while using the other to cup one of his ears, which bled profusely. With a great effort, he climbed over the capsule. Bleeding, and mad-driven by the overwhelming noise of the screaming, Ryu finally saw into the capsule…
He woke up screaming in his tent. Sweating, he jumped up from his gurney and went to get some water. Without noticing, agitated and shaky, he went out to the semi-toxic, arid field of the Earth. He was setting foot on Earth for the first time in his life. Earth was showing him, for the first time, an unreachable horizon.
Watching the sun timidly beginning to rise on the arid plain frame the silhouette of the ruins of a human, 21st century metropolis, Ryu slowly began to calm down. He stopped sweating; stopped shaking. Only then did he hear, or rather felt, her voice for the first time:
“Hello, Ryu. Welcome home.”
