Semi-finals

“Let’s go!” Oliver shouted from inside the booth.

“What a great move from Amelia’s handler,” Antoine said. “He really takes advantage of its robot’s agility. And, not gonna lie, but he has great technique, is solid and explosive. O’Malley’s is going to have a hard time breaking through it.”

“Let’s see if the Amelia is able to keep that rhythm,” Alex added. “Let’s not forget that the guys from the O’Malley amazed us in the last event. They might surprise us in this one too.”

“The second round is about to begin,” Antoine continued. “The referee orders the contenders to go to their positions.”

“Contenders, Fight!” The referee shouted.

Diar lunged for Athena’s hip section, Oliver jumped the desperate attempt and went for Diar’s back. Oliver tried to close his grip but Diar pushed him back and broke free. Diar tried to kick Athena’s left side but Oliver managed to dodge it.

“Wow!” Alex exclaimed. “That was a close one for Athena.”

“O’Malley is having a solid start this round,” Antoine added.

Diar threw a sidekick, Athena blocked it and went for Diar’s right side but Diar stopped it in the air.

“It’s a trap!” Nina gasped.

Diar locked Athena's right arm. Oliver had to think fast, a wrong move and it was game over. Athena climbed Diar’s body and locked its legs around Diar’s neck. As Athena strengthened its lock, Diar let go of its arm and pushed it away. Athena flipped in the air and landed safely a centimeter away from the ring’s limit.

“It seems that they’re no longer neglecting their right side,” Oliver said with a smile.

“Contender, fight!” The referee ordered, to the robots that had already spent a few seconds analyzing themselves.

Athena punched forward and the robots collided shoulder to shoulder. The sound of metal echoed throughout the stadium. Both robots pushed and pushed as each one of them tried to get a secure hold of the other. Diar faltered for a fraction of a second and Oliver took the opportunity to rush down the opponent. Athena pushed up. Just before Diar's toes lifted off the ground, his handler made it somersault. Athena twisted to face its adversary when Diar thrust its right side, making Athena lose its balance. Oliver reacted and before Athena collapsed on the floor, he recomposed its posture in the air, landing Athena with its hands a quarter of an inch away from the ring’s penalty zone. With all of his strength, Oliver killed the impulse that sent them flying and hoped that Athena’s components would too. Oliver used every muscle of his body to do a kick-up and sent unprepared Diar flying away.

The stadium hushed.

“O’Malley is out of the ring,” The referee announced. “Athena wins the encounter!”

The audience exploded as Athena helped Diar up to its feet. When Oliver tried to walk away, Diar kept grabbing Athena’s hand. Oliver reacted instinctively but stopped when he remembered the combat was over, leaving Athena in an awkward pose. The public's laughs turned into cheers when Diar raised Athena’s arm.

“Let’s go, Oliver!” Mike urged as Oliver froze Athena and took off the handling loop.

They shook hands with the superb guys from the O’Malley, who despite their teary eyes, expressed their admiration after the combat. After exchanging compliments, the two teams bowed to the cheering audience under the two frozen robots.

…

“And that’s the second call out for team Kazuhara!” Antoine informed. “If they fault again, they'll be penalized and, since the combat is one-to-one right now, Mchunu would move to the final.”

“But, it’s just me or the referee has been quite indulgent the Kazuhara’s…” Alex said. “I’m not an expert but I would have already penalized them five more times.”

Alex wasn’t wrong, in the stadium the crowd bowed as Kazuhara’s robot moved menacingly against Mchunu’s heavily damaged robot.

“They don't even let them put the protections back on!” Mike complained to the fog screen in workshop A.

Nina was biting her nails as Oliver tried to keep hydrating without crushing his sports drink bottle.

“Come on Mel, you can do it,” Oliver said, clenching his teeth after taking a sip from his drink.

Oliver doubted how well he could have handled such a damaged robot, the way Mel held on to the fight was admirable.

“It’s yours! Close that grip!” Oliver shouted to the screen as Mel applied a crossface lock to Kazuhara’s robot.

“One, two…” The exited public started counting when Kazuhara’s robot's left heel kicked backward and dug into Mchunu’s robot head.

Mchunu’s robot collapsed, motionless. Mchunu’s team rushed to the ring claiming for an illegal movement penalty.

“We’re so sorry. My system marks it as a glitch,” A Kazuhara team member mechanically said.

“I’ll have to review that,” The referee replied, walking to Kazuhara’s side of the ring. He came back to the center of the ring and said through the microphone, “Team Kazuhara experienced a glitch, since Mchunu’s robot is unable to continue the combat, this round, and hence the encounter goes to the Kazuhara.”

“What the…” Antoine exclaimed as Mike turned off the fog screen.

…

“I’ve made it to the final…” Emil mumbled to the floor when a door slam brought him out of his reverie. He looked up, “Hello, Father.”

Captain Bushida stood in front of his sitting son, arms crossed, looking him down.

“What was that?!” The captain exclaimed.

“That was me getting in the final,” Emil replied, unfazed.

“Well, you better not do such a lame performance there!” Captain Bushida claimed. “You know everything I had to do to reduce your penalties?! Luckily, today the media will be covered by the saccharine images of the first semi-final. If we repeat this tomorrow, it won’t slide unnoticed.”

“I had no choice!” Emil complained. “That dude was a monster.”

“I knew that no matter how much specialized training I paid for you, you wouldn’t match your opponents’ level,” Captain Bushida said. “If only you hadn't wasted your time on that idol dump!”

“And that kid Greenwood has a golden technique…” Captain Bushida commented as he walked along the room. He stopped and snorted frustratedly, “Since we won’t be able to do what’s necessary to win inside the ring…”

Captain Bushida walked to his son and grabbed his shoulder, “You’ll have to do what’s necessary outside the ring, Emil.”

“You have to be kidding right!” Emil grimaced at him in disbelief. “If we get caught, not only will we be disqualified from the competition, I could be prosecuted!”

“That’s why I trust you’ll do an impeccable job. You’ll put your hands on the fire for your father…” Captain Bushida continued as he crouched to be eye-to-eye with his son. “Just like I did for you when I had to erase that fool scandal you were involved in when you were an idol before it came to light.”

…

Flanked by four big thugs, Emil waited with his arms crossed, leaning against the frozen tiger’s showcase at the zoo. He was unconcerned about anyone seeing his face, no one passed by the zoo that late at night, except for them, of course. He studied their route, always the same from downtown to the stadium. He had to leave the finalists’ party early to get everything ready. His guts churned uneasily when he heard the approaching voices.

“Ready for tomorrow Greenwood?!” Emil called out as he walked to meet Amelia’s team.

“Hello Emil,” Nina responded, puzzled by Emil’s appearance.

“I’m not talking to you Nina,” Emil cut.

Oliver stepped forward.

“I am,” he replied. “Well, if this is all. I’m off.”

Team Amelia began to walk away.

“If you’re so confident, then you better watch out for your orphaned back tomorrow!” Emil shoted.

Oliver turned on his heels.

“What did you say?” He replied.

Emil reapproached Oliver.

“And when I’m finished with you,” Emil continued as he remembered his father’s words. “I’m going to pay your little sister a visit.”

"Oliver no!" Nina shouted but it was too late.

Oliver lunged forward and asserted a solid punch straight into Bushida’s face. Emil tried to fight back with little success. Two of Emil's thugs came over to even up the fight. One kicked Oliver in the head, stunning him away from Emil. After helping Emil stand, the other joined to help his struggling colleague who was having a hard time with Oliver. A third one held Nina back as the other knocked out Mike.

“Noooo! Help!” Nina yelled. “Emil you’re a filthy coward!”

Quenzie turned on its sirens and was calling for help. Emil ran after him and used an electromagnetic pointer to shut Quenzie down.

Emil turned to see how his thugs left Oliver unconscious on the floor.

“Enough,” Emil ordered, and his thugs disappeared from the scene.

Nina cursed at Emil, looking at him as she checked on Oliver.

“But Nina,” Emil wailingly said. “He attacked me first.”