Maya Tempora's Journal: Entry 8
by Carl van Ostrand

The Elders must be watching over me for it was only them who could have prevented such near disaster.

Just after the second moon breached the night sky, I peered at Fist through the slits in my walking prison. A simple nod, and he knew what to do. He was chained to a large granite boulder – witless robots. Clearly Version 9 and his army know nothing of Stone Golems, of course such ignorance would be expected from soulless machines.

Slowly and steadily, Fist absorbed the granite in to his own body. Large ridges formed up and down his arms, his shoulders grew broader, and large spikes emerged on his back and torso. The immense iron chains, now locked on to nothing, slumped to the ground.

Fist lumbered over to the Cage Bot. Knowing what came next, I grabbed my sword, and ducked for cover against the opposite wall. Fist’s marble-tipped spiked arm violently blasted through the steel exterior of the Cage Bot and split the wall with ease. My steel prison awoke – alarms sounded. Without delay, Fist peeled back the metal, creating an opening for me to escape. As the large bot spun around to attack, I drove my sword through the joint of the left leg, crippling its movement, then ripped upward hitting the cable from the nearby Porto-Battery. As power leaked from the Cage Bot’s circuits, the sirens and alarms slowed…deepened…and ceased.

It was too late. We could hear clicks, buzzing, and beeping. Robot motors switched on, and batteries kicked in – the robot camp was powering up. Without the sun for power, we were granted several minutes before we were completely swarmed. We could not run for they would track us easily. And more importantly Version 9, being self-sufficient, was probably already on to us.

Two small Web Bots scurried towards us in the dark. I called Helios to attack, and before one could release its web, Helios had melted its joints together and its circuitry malfunctioned. The other one released its web on to Fist. But with his new granite spikes, the web was far less effective. A couple twists and a well placed swing from sword, and he was free – and the Web Bot scurried away in to the dark.

In a rush against time, I called Helios to my sword. I ran forward in to the camp, my path lighted by his yellow flame, until I could make out the silhouette of the power generator. Its motors were running, lights were blinking, and its cables snaked throughout the camp, slowly powering-up an army of vicious robots. I reached back with the flaming sword in my hand, and tossed it high in to the air. Helios directed the sword over the central motor of the generator, and then rocketed the blade straight down. After a fury of sparks and explosions, the generator grinded to a halt. And so did our escape.

A metal hand clamped my waist, and I reared in pain. I had managed to severely damage the robot camp, and this made Version 9 very unhappy. If he wanted, he could snap my spine at any instant – instead he calmly told me my struggle was useless – that soon the Ophidians would take over the Justich System completely, and that their influence spreads far beyond just the arenas. He said it was necessary that he prove himself worthy, something I had heard several times already. It was getting old.

As I felt his grip growing tighter, an immense rock struck Version 9 in the back. He dropped me, and I quickly ran a safe distance away, turning to see Fist strike Version 9 in the face with enough force to send the half-man, half-machine sprawling to the ground. But he was down only for a nanosecond. Version 9 sprung back to his feet in the blink of an eye, his hydraulic feet letting out a faint hiss of air.

He spun towards Fist, and leaped in to the air, at least 15 feet from the ground. In mid-flight a small wrist modification opened, revealing to small stinger-rockets, which he fired downward at Fist. The two rockets hit Fist directly in the shoulder and the chest, exploding huge chunks of rock in to the night sky. As Version 9 descended, two bladed spikes sprung from his feet. Fist braced for impact. As the two made contact, the sound of steel meeting rock echoed throughout the metallic camp.

Version 9 had buried the bladed spikes deep in to Fist’s knees, supporting his own weight by leaning backwards and planting his left hand on the ground. He then flipped backwards, tearing the spikes free, and Fist stumbled forward. Fist lunged at Version 9, missing, but catching a spike on Version 9, gashing open his face. In response, Version 9 slugged Fist in the lower back, cracking open another wound.

Then I saw lights in the distance. I commanded Helios to shoot in to the sky as a beacon. The lights were approaching very quickly, as Fist fought a losing battle with Version 9. Fist was crippled as Version 9 pummeled him with repeated punches, as rock shards shattered everywhere. I could now hear the hum of a Moonjumper racing towards us. The bright lights nearly blinded me. It was not slowing down.

At just that moment, as Version 9, looked up to see the approaching vehicle, Fist grabbed Version 9’s arm, and swung him around on to the ground. As Version 9 sprung back to his feet, the Moonjumper slammed in to him in a blur of blue metal. The impact was enormous, and bits of metal flew everywhere. The Moonjumper, hovering at very high speeds, spun and slowed, coming back towards us. The rear hatch opened – it was Anduan. I could not have been happier.

We boarded quickly and I gave Anduan a long hug. We had much to discuss.