[971209] Today on RoboMan . . . In listening to Amanda read letter from her father to her mother, David sees his situation with Amanda mirrored by her father. Meanwhile, A new powerful blaster developed to overwhelm RoboMan sends the automaton warriors fleeing the battlefield in search of an experimental sword. The experimental sword aboard the abandoned Robon Starship maybe the Robon's only hope against Decimatron in Today's Earth Defender RoboMan! EARTH DEFENDER ROBOMAN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Starring: Aaron Roland Lifeson .............................. Gold Robon Brad A. Seed .................................... Silver Robon David Sykes ....................................... Blue Robon Amanda E. Waterman ................................ Pink Robon Copyright (c) 1995-97, 1998 Artist Bros. "Influences of the Past" Written By Dairenn Lombard ACT I: A few blocks southeast of Columbia Regional Park featured a small, single story house with a triangular rooftop in Redondo Beach. In the living room of her home, Amanda sat on the floor in cutoff jeans, a plaid tie-end shirt with her hair tied up in a handkerchief--a usual outfit for her to wear during her annual spring cleaning. Helping her, David, in a blue tank top and oversized jeans carried a huge cardboard box into the den. When he set it down, he yanked a rag out of his back-pocket and wiped his forehead. "Man; your folks kept a lot of heavy stuff in their basement." Amanda looked up from a pair of portraits and nodded. "Yes, I know. That is why I asked for your help, David. I appreciate you coming over." "Well, I didn't have anything else better to do," David replied. "What prompted you to dig up all this stuff now? By the amount of dust on it, it looks as if it's been down their for months." "That's because it has," Amanda replied. "This is the first year since my parents moved away to Florida that I've performed one of my annual household clean outs." David nodded slowly. "Ohhh, I see. You and your parents used to do this all the time, then." "Yes," Amanda answered. "Once a year, we would go into our closets and the basement and sort through old things and sold whatever we didn't care about any longer. They moved out 10 months ago so whatever they didn't take with them to Tampa, I got to keep." David nodded. "Well, fortunately, that is the last of it. Unfortunately, it was the heaviest box." He stretched and wound up his arms. "Gonna need a chiropractor after that." Amanda laughed. "Let me see what's in it." She got on her knees and stood on them next to the box before pulling apart the flaps. Inside, the cardboard was packed with manilla envelopes. Amanda took out one and opened the metal clasp. "Looks like a photocopy of something," David said from looking at it as well. She nodded while her eyes backed from side to side, quickly scanning the handwriting on the paper. "These look like copies of hand written letters from my father." "Who were they sent to?" Amanda changed pages. "Mom; date . . . 1973. This one, October 24th." David crossed his arms and wrinkled his forehead. "How come they left this behind? That's, like, a classic photograph or out of print record. You know; Irreplaceable." Amanda quickly nodded at him and went back to reading. "I guess that's why they made photocopies. My parents must have the originals otherwise they would have called by now." "Unless they haven't looked for them yet," David mentioned. "Oh well, at least these exist in case they want them." Amanda nodded. "Yeah. This is really interesting; my father was out of town on a business vacation but he was engaged to my mother so he wrote her this prior to marrying her." "Cool," David nodded. Amanda began to read, "It says: Dear Elizabeth..." Sand hills in the Californian Desert was the scenery for miles in the Mojave Desert. Lodged in one of the hills was the ProcBot battleship. Aboard, Virex sat at a workstation within his laboratory and watched the backlit screen carefully. On the display, strings of characters at varying lengths scrolled upwards each time Virex clicked a button. Eventually he stopped and looked at it. "Oh my Goodness... I don't believe it! We've got it!! YES!!" Virex switched off his terminal and left his station. On the screen was the graphical blueprints to a massive gun next to a diagram of Decimatron. ACT II: At Amanda's house, that weekend in Redondo Beach, she sat on her heals, reading a letter between her parents out loud. While David sat on the sofa, he listened to her read from the photocopied pages. "...I suppose my mother was right in saying I'm a work-a-holic," Amanda read. "However, it is my way of distracting my mind from the turmoil I faced being without a mate such as you. I am often tempted by everyone who I see but rest assured, I only want you--for, you are the only one who can perceive my value beyond mere intellectual achievement. This past month in Minneapolis away from you has been terribly stressful but now I am looking forward to our marriage more now than ever before. Your love, Winston." "I know what that man's going through." "Hmmm," Amanda moaned, "here's another. This is much older and it went on about how my mother would be moving away from England to Queens, New York to study at a university while my father spent time working on his career." David shook his head. "Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen; I'm surprised they ever got together." "Well, in another letter I glanced at when we first opened up the box," Amanda replied, while checking the photocopied letter, "she decided against it and decided that she could always go back to college after working for a few years to get more experience in the real world and help support my Dad." "Woah," David reacted. "Talk about dedication!" Amanda nodded. "I know... Boy, after reading all this, it's a miracle that anybody is born--you know, from folks not getting together." "Yeah, although, I have to admit, it is a subject I spend some energy trying to avoid," David jested. "Seriously, though, it's kind of amazing to think that our parents had to have gotten really attracted to one another at some point in time." Amanda nods. "It'd be interesting to find out what happens to a person when they become a mother or a father." "Heh-heh," David chuckled, "how do you figure?" "Well, everybody is about the same and not really parent-like until right after they become one and then suddenly, it happens," Amanda answered, "they begin to worry about everything, think about everything and so on." David nodded. "Ah, I see. Well, that is something that we'll find out about eventually. At the moment, I just want to get past the first hump that Winston Waterman had to deal with in first dating your mom." In the vast wasteland of the desert in Southeastern California, the ProcBots' dark gray battleship made its crash landing in the sandy hills their base. Aboard the vessel, Tyrannotron nodded and turned around to look at both Virex and Ivicon. "I am satisfied with what you have discovered but what makes you believe such a weapon will affect RoboMan beyond conventional technology?" Virex stepped forth. "Recall when it was hurled into the electrical generators at the power plant? It was just short of death because of the overload." "We suspect that such an event has revealed the weak link in RoboMan's state of invincibility," Ivicon noted. "Electricity in uncontrolled amounts have consistently overpowered the Robon including the pink Robon's encounter with Slayer Droid Aracnor." Virex nodded at him and then looked at the blue ProcBot. "Tyrannotron, with this weapon consistently connected to electricity, RoboMan will be unable to tolerate this form of uncontrolled energy." "Okay," Tyrannotron said. He walked over to one of the aft consoles and pushed a button. "Abominor, bring the ComBots; we need to plan our strategy against RoboMan." "Acknowledged." A white jeep bounced over the hump of the crossing street at the intersection of Prairie Avenue along Redondo Beach boulevard while driving past the green light. Inside, David was been taken by Aaron from Amanda's house since Amanda picked him up and didn't have his car. David glanced at the street signs passing overhead. "Thanks a lot for getting me so quick, I need to hurry up and go home so that I can write a letter." "Ahahahahahahaha," Aaron laughed, "hehe--sorry, that just sounded funny to me." David looked at Aaron sideways. "That's not funny." Aaron chuckled. "Dude, it's a logic thing; it doesn't matter how fast you write the letter since it takes a couple of days for it to get there." "Well, Aaron," David moaned, "I'm not talking about that--I need to hurry up and get some ideas on paper." Aaron nodded. "Amanda was reading me letters that her dad wrote to her mom and what was funny was how her dad was basically in the same situation as myself." Aaron glanced at David and then back at the roadway. "He was? How are you in the same situation, David?" "In one of the letters Amanda found in a stack of photocopies, Winston--her dad--was trying to come onto Elizabeth (Amanda's mom) but had some problems." Aaron nodded again and said, "I see." "He never went to school but through very hectic circumstances, managed to make himself into a self-made businessman but because he was always out of the loop, never could ever get close to anybody beyond a hi and bye," David explained. "Elizabeth was his secretary and wanted to ask her out but didn't know how." "Woah, good thing that was almost three decades ago," Aaron told him. "Couldn't do that today." "Yeah I know," David replied. "Anyway, Winston tried everything but it seemed like no matter what, he could never get into a comfortable enough position to let Liz know he liked her." "Uh huh." Aaron was slightly distracted by all of the red brake lights in front of himself. "What's with the slow up?" David looked back and forth. "I dunno, maybe traffic on the 405 is being detoured to the..." Suddenly fire engines drove down the street with their sirens and horns blaring with the strobe lights. Oddly enough, however, it seemed as if nobody was driving them, though nobody noticed. After they made a left turn right by Aaron's jeep, he turned around and looked behind himself at it and then at David again. "I don't like the sound of that." "That could be what's got traffic all blocked up," David replied. "Get the Radio on." Aaron hit the button his radio and pushed a station preset for the newsradio station. "...outages affecting Lawndale caused by the thousands of dollars in damage to electrical power cables and towers caused by the ProcBots. The..." Aaron turned the radio down. David groaned. "Electricity again..." "Let's roll." He pulled the steering wheel to make a quick turn into the right lane and accelerated away. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power--Receiving Station D; an enormous electrical facility with steal machinery covering a city block from Fairfax to Cadillac avenues on Venice across the street from the administrative building. Hidden beneath the Interstate 10 freeway, Tyrannotron stood waiting when Deploridon ran up to him from behind. "Tyrannotron--Deploridon reporting." The blue ProcBot turned around and nodded. "Proceed." "Abominor reports that the ComBots are in position and ready," Deploridon announced. "Good. Virex, discontinue your vehicle remote controller; we only needed those emergency response vehicles to gain the Robon warrior's attention beyond the simple power outage this area has momentarily encountered," Tyrannotron ordered. "Once Decimatron is through, we can take Toncur back to headquarters." The light green robot nodded and moved away. The streets were clean with not a single vehicle on the road--parked or moving. Running up the street was the golden Robon followed by blue Robon David when they stopped and looked around. "What the?" David said. "Where in the world is everybody?!" "And the fire engines!" Aaron replied. Down the other side of the street, Brad and Amanda had come running into the view. "We came as soon as we saw it on the news and..." Brad started to say. "Hey, uh--are my optics on the fritz or is this place deserted?" Amanda looked around. "Where did everybody go?" "No doubt, they were evacuated by the ProcBots," David answered. Aaron walked forth while looking upwards. "Look alive, guys--I just know things are going to real bad, real soon." Quietly, the distant sound of stomping began to catch Brad ear. "Hey, guys; listen..." That stomping grew more noticeable. "It sounds enormous," David said. On the street below, the four Robon warriors stood separately while looking around when suddenly a boxy shadow was cast from high above onto the Robon. Aaron saw the shadow appear first and immediately turned around to look into the sky. "Uh oh! They got the jump on us!" Blocking the sunlight--Decimatron stood above them at over three times the normal 30-foot height of a Chromion. "Prepare yourselves for conflict." "It doesn't always have to come to this you know!!" Brad shouted back. In the multiplied voices that made up Decimatron's voice, it replied, "Silence!" Two rays of light came out of the black-headed Robot's gray eyes. In front of the Robon, a pair of light beams shot into the ground before fire blasted out of the asphalt. Two by two, the Robon warriors were cast into the air in front of the inferno that blew them off their feet into flipping over. On the concrete pavement, the four of them landed again and Amanda turned her head to Brad. "Next time, let me do the talking?" "Yeah but somehow," David said while standing up. "I don't think that's gonna help!" "Me neither," Aaron interjected. "I, golden Robon summon Rocore!" The clouds in the blue sky had parted as Rocore, the large black and red striped aircraft jet-propelled itself downward. The gold, silver, blue and pink Robon Warrior stood below the brilliant sun shining overhead. The background dissolved to an image of the tall robot they were about to become as they shouted, "RoboMan Unite!" Their back-mounted containers locking and onto their shoulders over their heads, Amanda and David back flipped while transforming into pink and blue feet and legs of a robot. White bolts of light had struck them, giving the two legs a rolling aura. As if it were continuously descending, Rocore's aft jets pulled out further to form the abdomen and waist. The nose of the aircraft detached and swung, by its hinges into a gap underneath the body of the black jet. The red wings slid forth, forming a V. On the afterburners, a slot had opened where a holster had been ejected into place, containing a red and silver device. Rocore, as the torso, vertically landed on the sockets of the pink and blue legs as the connection generated a great white flash. Aaron and Brad jumped into the sky. In the midair, the gold and silver Robon Warriors' heads descended between their shoulders. Their arms locked onto their chest before connecting together. The containers on their backs had hooked onto their feet, also locked together forming the forearms and fists. Guided by arcs of white lightning, the gold and silver robots were inserted into the shoulder sockets of the black torso. Once the arms had connected, the joints locking caused a bright flashed. The chest had ejected forward, allowing the head to rise into place. Its silver face featured a metal mask across its mouth, a metallic nose and two yellow glowing eyes. Once the chest had closed, a bolt of lightning energized RoboMan's heavy armor once it flexed its arms and stepped forth. RoboMan took the device from its hip-mounted holster and shouted, "DoubleWeapon!" The tall robot pushed a button on its handle, causing the two sides of the guard to eject upwards into position while ejecting the blade into place. "RoboSaber!" RoboMan held up its sword, ready for battle. Decimatron walked into its sights and put up its fists; RoboMan swung the blade of its sword by the hilt into Decimatron. The sharp weapon was knocked clear by Decimatron's big black fist. RoboMan swung back the other way but Decimatron's forearm stopped the RoboSaber before using its right fist to knock the tip of the sword skyward. Decimatron's fist sparked off of RoboMan's chest after ramming a powerful punch into the robot. RoboMan stumbled back from the white cloud of smoke before returning with a downward strike from the sword. The blade sparked against the heavy iron chest of Decimatron's brown and green upper body. RoboMan pushed the RoboSaber straight at Decimatron's abs but in a risky move, the robot pulled on RoboMan's blade driving for it. Then, Decimatron hammered RoboMan's fist holding the sword. On the ground, the RoboSaber hit the street and RoboMan looked up, very surprised. Echoing from all directions, Decimatron's voice called out, "Kyosei Scimitar!" while holding up the bladeless hilt of its weapon. Lightning struck the handle of the would-be sword, forging into existence the blade of the curved scimitar. Decimatron buried its sword in RoboMan's chest before sparks blasted violently out of its body. Decimatron took its weapon away and sliced past RoboMan's abs, sparking off of its durable armor. RoboMan stepped back smoking and weakened from the blows. Decimatron drove its sword towards the heart of the multicolored robot but RoboMan's fist banged its weapon out of the way. RoboMan stepped in and jammed its fist ahead and sparks exploded out of Decimatron's left shoulder. Like a bullet train, RoboMan's left fist rammed through and another bout of sparks broke out of Decimatron's right shoulder. On the street, the nine-story tall robot tumbled over and RoboMan picked up its weapon, in RoboShooter mode and walked up to its foe lying on the pavement helpless. "Now it ends," RoboMan said, "forever..." It held up the weapon and aimed it at Decimatron below. It sounded like thunder when then brilliant ray of light streamed out of its pistol. Suddenly, Decimatron rolled over and away from the fountain of sparks and, when it rolled onto its back, was suddenly armed with a black pistol-shaped rifle. Shocked from surprise, RoboMan had panicked and took several steps back. Miraculously, Decimatron was on its feet again. "It does end forever--for you!" Suddenly, it hooked a big black cable into the butt of the huge gun it carried which was connected to the many generators in the field beside itself. Holding up the weapon, Decimatron lowered it into place and fired before RoboMan had a chance to do anything. A sparkling ray of light pushed out of the wide barrel of the rifle with arcs of lightning surrounding the electric beam that was a bright as the sun. The deadly ray came after RoboMan and entered its body through its abs before charging RoboMan full of energy, indicated by the lightning crawling all over its armor. Sparks blasting everywhere caused RoboMan to write; Decimatron fired to more shots ahead. Two comet shaped bolts of light pounded the smoking robot with sparks that blasted out of RoboMan's front side before causing it to tip backwards. ACT III: Venice Boulevard near the Department of Water and Power's Los Angeles Receiving Station in West Hollywood, RoboMan's armor had multiple sparks burst out of random areas of its body before tipping over. Overhead--the golden and silver Robon warriors dropped out of the sky and after they fell out of view, the blue and pink automatons plummeted as well. On the street, the four of them layed on the street face down when suddenly, they began to glow. Their individual colors became so bright, nothing but a blinding light of white could be seen before it disappeared, showing the four lifeguards on the street. Everyone strained to get up but could kept dropping. "Come on, let's get out of here before it see us!" Brad shouted. They helped each other rise onto their fight just enough to run away. Miraculously, they were hidden from view by the sign indicating the Interstate 10 freeway close by. Decimatron had nodded with satisfaction while walking away, believing they were dead. Behind a building, the four of the Robon hid with their bodies pressed against the wall while perspiring and breathing heavily. Aaron carefully looked beyond the edge of the wall and saw Deploridon walking out of sight. Brad caught his breath. "Well--that went badly." "That wasn't supposed to happen!" Amanda fumed. "How did Decimatron do that?" "We were tricked," David answered. "But how??" Brad rebutted. "Decimatron was down for the count--we had it in our sights." Aaron looked at all of them. "It was faking us out; made us think it was down so it could take us by surprise." "I don't like that," Brad immediately interjected. "I don't like that one bit." Aaron nodded. "Me neither." David looked at everyone. "Yeah, but what are we going to do about it? We can't go back and fight it without expecting to be made into burnt out toaster ovens. At least, not with that thing they shot at us with." "I've got an idea," Amanda said, "ask the Robon for their help. They know more about our powers than we do." Brad looked at her and asked, "but how are we going to reach them? They're dead." "Remember when Alumina told us to get the RoboCrossBow? They can still talk to us if we call for their help," Amanda answered. Aaron nodded and looked at them again. "It's worth a try, but we'd better get out of here first--come on." Brad nodded affirmatively as they all started to run down the alley. Beneath the Interstate 10 freeway, Abominor marched up to Tyrannotron who stood expecting something. The red Combot saluted and said, "Abominor reporting in, Tyrannotron." "Proceed," the blue Robot replied. "I am pleased to announce the destruction of RoboMan," Abominor said to him. Tyrannotron nodded. "Good; then I suppose it is safe to assume that Toncur it's way here with the bodies." "Bodies?" "Surely you took their carcasses to ensure their death, Abominor." Abominor looked away. "Well, no, I had assumed that when they disappeared, they were so badly..." A big blue fist came out of the darkness and slugged Abominor across the face. The ground shook with the red ComBot fell on its behind with Tyrannotron standing over him. "Idiot! Scour the city for the Robon and kill them; and this time--bring me their bodies dead or alive in case I have to finish them myself." Abominor stood up and reluctantly said, "Yes, Tyrannotron." Tyrannotron watched Abominor walk away with his arms crossed. At the termination of Rosecrans Avenue, the four Robon stood in front of Aaron's white jeep and looked into the blue sky. Amanda's hair was blown by the strong coastal winds and squinted against the sunlight but kept concentrated regardless. "Alumina!" she called out. "This is Amanda! We need your help!!" All that could be heard was the ocean crashing up against the sandy shore where only they were. The wind was blowing even stronger and Aaron and Brad looked at each other, feeling as if Amanda were setting herself up for grave disappointment. Even David was beginning to feel as if they were truly on their own. His forehead wrinkled while he strained to see something in the clouds. "Hey guys--what's that over there?" Aaron stepped forth and looked harder. "I don't kn," Brad said before interrupting himself in saying, "hey wait, it's doing something!" Amanda stepped forth and smiled with her fist clenched happily. The cloud had begun to turn several shades of the rainbow before separating into yellow, white, blue and pink clouds. Gradually, they had begun to take the shape of the Robon Warriors' faces. Brad was speechless as he stared into the sky above. "Amanda," echoed Alumina's synthesized voice from her hazy image. She looked upwards more seriously and replied, "I hear you!" "Buried in our abandoned ship holds something that will match your enemy's weapon," Alumina said to her. "You will have more than this weapon to help you for your own will to protect everyone and everything from the ProcBots is stronger," said Morpheos' golden translucent image. "And though your strength is great. This weapon will help you pave your way to victory against Decimatron." "Thank you!" Amanda replied. The four heads bowed and began to dissipate into vapor that vanished. Brad turned to the others. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" "We're gonna need Rocore," David said. Aaron nodded. "Yeah, okay--then, everybody ready?" Amanda nodded affirmatively. "Good. I call on the spirit of RoboMan!" On the chest of Aaron's t-shirt, a glowing red dot had stretched into a thin light beam. The light had turned clockwise in a phase-delayed fashion, materializing a round red badge, with the IV symbol on it. Simultaneously--the left side of Brad, David and Amanda's chest had the round badges materialize the same way, with the III, II and I symbols upon each of them respectively. Aaron took off his circular badge shouting, "RoboCrystal!!" His left hand on the front of the badge, Aaron moved his hand to the left and turned it from the badge it was into a crystal, yellow tinted cone. The four of them quickly raised the yellow, clear, blue and pink cones to the to the sky shouting, "Earth Defender RoboMan!" All four cones begun to brightly glow as they were surrounded by a spiraling ray of white light. Amanda, David, Brad and Aaron were spheres of pink, blue, white and yellow light that expanded from almost six feet to 30-feet in height. In a flash, the silver metallic face of the gold Robon was in front of the sea with the sun directly above the horizon. One could see all four of them beside one another their shiny, metallic bodies of armor. Pects of steel, tube-like arms of metal, legs of flat iron and rectangle containers upon their backpacks, the lifeguards of Hermosa Beach had become the Robon Warriors! Aaron stepped forth and looked into the sky shouting, "I, golden Robon summon Rocore!" The clouds in the blue sky had parted as Rocore, the large black and red striped aircraft jet-propelled itself downward. "Let's go!" Aaron commanded before leaping into the air. In the sky, the blue, pink silver and golden Robon Warriors had rapidly ascended and, inside of the cockpit, the team had sat down before their consoles. Over the city, Rocore flew by faster than the speed of sound. Toncur the brown tank rolled southbound Vista Del Mar at top speed. Inside of the armored vehicle, Stealthon had driven it while Ivicon was looking at multiple monitors in the dimly lit chamber scanning for the Robon. Abominor walked into the cockpit. "Any sign of them?" "Negative," Ivicon answered, "but we're close. There are indications that they were here not very long ago." "Then keep searching," Abominor said to him. "Otherwise, Tyrannotron is going to have our microchips for a light snack." ThunderBelt looked up from his station when the red ComBot said that. "Carry on," Abominor said before leaving. Underwater, Rocore behaved as a submarine while flying by rock formations near the coastline. Within the cockpit, Aaron looked to his side at the pink Robon and said, "Amanda, David and I are going to try and find the weapon using my sensors and his speed in case that ship falls in on itself." Amanda nodded in acknowledgement. The golden Robon turned to the silver Robon and continued, "Brad--you and Amanda need to stay here in case the ComBots show up and she has to take us out of here but if that's not possible, give 'em everything you've got." Brad also nodded. "You can count on it." "Okay." David noticed a flashing button on his console marked LOC and looked to the golden Robon. "Aaron, the Robon Starship..." Underwater, the wreckage of the white, tube-shaped vessel remained lodged within the undersea crust of the coast. The blue Robon looked at print outs and, using his internal electronics, could translate the Chromion text to English. "Bay doors are still open and some systems are still operating on stand-by, low-power mode but the structural integrity of the vehicle has been severely compromised. We'll only a couple of minutes to find what it is we're looking for." "David--if we find it, get it and go even if I can't make it," Aaron said. "There's no point in both of us dying." An ominous silence permeated the cockpit leaving only the sound of the engine from everyone pondering the implications of their mission. "All right. Take us in, Amanda," Aaron said. Rocore moved underwater towards the open hatch on the starboard side of the Robon Starship. ACT IV: Two steel doors were pushed apart slowly but steadily by two robot hands on each door. The blue and gold Robon warriors in a corridor finally pushed apart the automatic doors that were computer controlled and caught their breath. "Aaron, at this rate, it's going to to take us too long to find this weapon," David said. "What are we looking for anyway?" The golden Robon shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know, David; I'm scanning for things that aren't apart of the ship of unusual composition in comparison to all other objects aboard. I'm also looking for anything that has power independent of the ship's systems." "I hope that's not going to take very long, I estimate that this deck has a lifespan of about ten minutes," David said. Underwater, Rocore had floated beside the seaweed covered starship with a tube connected to the starboard airlock. Aboard the jet craft within the cockpit, the pink Robon looked at her left wrist and impatiently looked from side to side. "They've been in there too long." The silver Robon looked behind himself at her to his left. "Brad, you take control of Rocore--I'm going in," she said while standing up out of her seat. Brad reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "No, Amanda; they can handle it--trust me, Aaron knows what he's doing." "I know, but I just want to make sure that nothing's has happened to David or him," Amanda replied. Brad stood up and looked at the pink Robon. "Amanda, if you go in there, the deck they're on could collapse from too many of us onboard--you've just got have faith that they will be all right." Amanda didn't want to accept that--she was so worried about David that staying behind was making her crazy. The sound of two metal feet running down the iron steps of a staircase were followed by the blue and golden Robon warriors quickly rushing down the stairs to the deck below. David turned around and walked down the second flight before saying, "I sure hope your sensors are right about where this weapon is because we've only got one shot at this. If it isn't here--we're going to have to leave with or without it." They arrived in a dark hallway with the only light source being their optics and various indicator lights all over their armor. Aaron looked behind himself and then ahead as they quickly walked down the corridor towards a light. "David, it is here; it's got to be." "Once we get it, I'm not sure if we're going to have enough time to get back to..." Suddenly, there tipping feeling that was accompanied by the sound of metal twisting. "What was that?" David quickly asked. "Scanning," Aaron replied; from his point of view, a grid cutaway of the ship they were on showed red bullets with blue, L-shaped lines leading to green strings of text. "Hull fractures are starting cracks in the walls and since the water pressure this far under the sea is so high, a breach will have this entire ship filled with water." The blue Robon shook his head. "In that case, we better hurry." Aaron nodded as they both moved away. In the circular chamber, many closets lined the walls above computer consoles that were all deactivated. Aaron looked around and said, "these cabinets and closets are locked but since the computer was destroyed, we can't open them." David pulled the blue dagger on his left hip and said, "Oh no?" He twirled the weapon in his hand and tossed it by its blade at the doors of the largest compartment. The dagger sparked off the light metal causing the doors to fly open. Aaron nodded happily while clenching his fist but then there was another sharp drop. David almost fell over and held onto a table mounted on the floor. "Aaron, get the sword quick! We've got to get out of here right now!!" Within the cockpit of Rocore, the pink Robon looked from side to side impatiently wanting to get aboard the starship when there was an alarm. Amanda stopped too look up and then at the silver Robon. "Brad, what is that?" "The ship is collapsing... The aft section is about to drop away and Aaron with Brad are in there!" Amanda looked over at the view screen and worriedly gasped, "Oh gosh." Bolts flew out of the wall with a water streaming through the holes. Tubes overhead cracked and water sprayed down from the ceiling as well. The blue Robon warrior had held the hilt of the long, double-sided sword with the golden Robon holding its end as they ran down the dimly lit corridor. A flood of water was chasing them as the sound of decks falling below and above rocked the two of them. "David, use your RoboMan SuperSkill to get this back to Rocore! This ship will fall apart before we both make it." "No! We'll need to form RoboMan himself to use the RoboRazor!" David replied. Outside, bubbles streamed out of the dorsal side of the Robon's starship as its rear section fell off, taking the two remaining propulsion tubes and thrust afterburners with it. With glowing optics, the pink Robon watched as the vessel lost apart of itself to the ocean floor and looked away. "No!!" The silver Robon warrior had held onto Amanda as they heard the large chunk of the ship hit the bottom of the sea. All was silent then; and Brad looked from side to side while holding Amanda. Noise in the cargo bay had broken the silence and Brad asked, "What was that?" The cockpit doors had opened and Aaron with David had stepped in, moving towards their seats in the cockpit. "David!!" Amanda shouted, grabbing the blue Robon, hugging him tightly. "Ohh David, I was so worried you were still in there!" Aaron sat down and took Rocore out of anchor mode. "Of course we weren't. We would've gotten all messed up." Brad chuckled. "You guys... Heh." When Amanda finished hugging David, he looked at her for a long time, not wanting for her to let him go. "All right, everybody--let's show those guys what we're made of," Aaron said. Brad nodded affirmatively; David looked down and away while moving past Amanda to his seat. Amanda took her seat and pushed a few buttons. "Course programmed." "David--set scanners to find the ComBots," Aaron said. "Amanda--floor it." Floating beside the wreckage underwater, Rocore had moved ahead before turning around and flying upwards through the water under the sea away from the dismembered starship from Chromius. The surface of the ocean broke into a fountain of water as the enormous black jet had flown upwards out of the Santa Monica Bay. Below the cliffs at Point Vicente in Rancho Palos Verdes, the ComBots had looked around the park and saw nothing but the land between them and the San Pedro Channel. Abominor walked in over the rocky terrain and said, "Come on, everybody; Tyrannotron wont be too happy if we don't find the Robon warriors." Stealthon sighed. "Something tells me that this is going to be a lot harder than I thought." "That's right bucket-head," Brad said. Standing upon the cliffs were the pink, blue, silver and golden Robon warriors. "We're gonna give you one more chance to pack your bags and hit the road before we get really mad," said the golden Robon warrior. Abominor stood forth and looked up at the team standing there. "Still talking that talk, eh? Well, I think it's about time we shut you guys up. Toncur, roll out!" A portion of the ground had exploded skyward, casting chunks of dirt into the air. Overhead, Toncur the huge brown tank had coasted through the air from out of the Earth. On the ground, the tank landed and drove along the coast at top speed. The ComBots ran into position as Abominor remained standing in the center upon shouting, "Decimatron unite!!" Thunder and lightning cracked in the dark skies upon his command. The center section of Stealthon and Ivicon's limbs had folded, converting the black and dark green robots into large robot legs that gained a bright red aura when struck by lightning. In the background existed a view of the coastal mountains when Toncur, the brown tank, rolled over the sand so fast, dust flew by its tracks. It rolled off a cliff and into the sky. In midair, the huge metal vehicle had extended at multiple locations throughout its body. The tank, guided by bright arcs of lightning, was lowered onto the robot legs forming a torso. In the sky, the red and white ComBots, Abominor and ThunderBelt had jumped into the air. In the sky, the two had rapidly ascended. While flying, they simultaneously transformed into robot arms that red arcs of light had brought into the sides of the torso. Sliding up from between the shoulders was the head of Decimatron. It was black and had a gray, metallic face with a red visor across its eyes. Both arms flexed out to the sides as the 80-foot robot warrior stepped forth. Decimatron was now eye-level with the Robon warriors who stood upon the cliff. "There is no escape," it's multi-layered voice had announced. "We're ready for you, Decimatron!" Aaron shouted back. "RoboMan unite!" The clouds in the blue sky had parted as Rocore, the large black and red striped aircraft jet-propelled itself downward. Rocore, as the torso, vertically landed on the sockets of the pink and blue legs as the connection generated a great white flash. Guided by arcs of white lightning, the gold and silver robots were inserted into the shoulder sockets of the black torso. Once the arms had connected, the joints locking caused a bright flashed. The chest had ejected forward, allowing the head to rise into place. Its silver face featured a metal mask across its mouth, a metallic nose and two yellow glowing eyes. Once the chest had closed, a bolt of lightning energized RoboMan's heavy armor once it flexed its arms and stepped forth. In the sky, the black iron barrel of the massive gun Decimatron carried was lowered into position from the robot aiming it for RoboMan. Both giant robots stood on the cliff as RoboMan prepared itself for Decimatron's attack. "Face your ultimate destiny, RoboMan," Decimatron said before pulling the trigger. The various lights along the rifle had indicating rising power levels along with the deep hum that preceded the thunderous sound when the raw electricity pushed out of the weapon. Sparks exploded out of the rocky ground causing RoboMan to stumble backwards. Decimatron kept firing white, comet-shaped bolts of light out of that massive gun which knocked RoboMan further and further back. The edge of the ground had crumbled beneath RoboMan's blue foot sending the Robot falling onto its silver and gold hands holding onto the cliff. The drop below was ominous with jagged rocks lining the shore. Decimatron walked towards RoboMan and pointed its gun down on RoboMan. "Your attempt to delay the inevitable only intensifies punishment." "RoboMan helmet fin!!" the robot shouted. The fin on the back of the robot's head had launched upwards into the air. Sparks exploded out of Decimatron's chest, forcing the tall robot to take many steps back away from the white cloud of smoke. RoboMan put its pink and blue feet onto the sides of the cliff and jumped up. Out of the sky, RoboMan came down and landed on the ground in an earth-shaking boom. Decimatron pulled a lever on the side of its gun, recharging it before aiming it for RoboMan again. A hilt sticking out of the back of RoboMan was grabbed by its large black fist. "RoboRazor!" echoed the giant's multi-layered voice. The sword had a round golden base with a silver, guard that supported a long and sharp, double-sided blade that terminated at a sharp tip. RoboMan swung it back and forth before holding it in place with light gleaming along the sword until it shimmered at the tip. RoboMan lashed Decimatron's chest diagonally on each side as two bright sparks had broken out of its heavy armor. Decimatron stepped in towards RoboMan but it held up its sword and chopped down. The fireworks continued when RoboMan turned around and sliced past its abs. RoboMan picked up its sword and struck down against Decimatron's chest as yet more sparks burst clear of its smoking armor. Decimatron stepped back but then used both of its hands to hold its powerful gun on RoboMan--the one thing it still can't deal with. "Now--die!" Decimatron shouted. Arcs of lightning surrounded the white beam of light thrusting out of the black rifle Decimatron held on RoboMan. Surrounded by blackness, RoboMan stood in front of an image of the Robon Warriors' logo as it raised its strong and lengthy sword above itself shouting, "RoboRazer BladeMirror!" With both fists, RoboMan swung the blade of its sword clockwise, leaving behind a glowing transparent disc. RoboMan completed circle in swinging the RoboRazer the full 360 degrees. In the blue sky, the violent beam of brilliant electricity shot by and the blue shield suspended in midair before RoboMan was directly in the ray's path. The raw power had caused the translucent disc flash almost white when the yellow beam of light hit the shield before bouncing back. Decimatron was hit with every last megavolt of electricity it fired against RoboMan causing multiple sparks to explode out of its armor yet again. Again surrounded by blackness, RoboMan held out its powerful sword shouting, "RoboRazer Laser Slice!" Strong as diamond, the shimmering blade was suddenly filling up with a sparkling ray of red light until it shined at the tip. Decimatron watched RoboMan take big steps while holding its sword and unable to defend itself, Decimatron held its gun up to the sky, over itself, keeping RoboMan's sword away from itself. RoboMan took its laser-bladed sword and swung down; in the sky, the laser beam came swinging down, leaving behind a streak of light. While Decimatron held its gun up to protect itself, sparks exploded from the weapon as RoboMan's laser sword cut straight through the black weapon. On the ground, the two smoking halves of the gun fell to the ground and light blue cracks of light traversed the length of each end until arcs of electricity preceded it's fiery explosion. "Retreat or _you_ will face your ultimate destiny!" RoboMan said, holding the shining RoboRazor on Decimatron. Silent but contemptful, Decimatron jumped into the air. In the sky, it's two fists were ahead of itself while flying away. RoboMan watched the massive robot move away and nodded with satisfaction. As the sun began to set on the horizon of the Pacific Ocean, RoboMan stood on the cliff facing the sea as a dark silhouette holding the RoboRazor. THE END Next time on RoboMan: .......................................................................... .......................................................................... .......................................................................... .......................................................................... .......................................................................... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Earth Defender RoboMan" is a trademark of Artist Bros. Productions. The above content and text is protected under laws of the United States of America and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c)1995-97, 1998 Dairenn Lombard for Artist Bros. Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. Country Of First Publication: United States of America. Artist Bros. and Dairenn Lombard are the author of the preceding text. The characters and events depicted in this story are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. [TV-Y7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------