Dissonance

“Hello, fellow viewers of Teen Grid, this is Romina Tatcher, bringing you the coverage of the finalists' party of the Ninth Anual Robo-contest,” said the excited girl. “And…well… We usually don’t cover this event, but you know who is invited tonight. We can’t miss the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Right? He hasn't given interviews since he retired. Such a shame!”

“Look, he’s here!” A girl from the awaiting crowd shouted as the rest of the girls squeaked in excitement.

“They’re opening the doors…” Romina expectantly said. “Oh! No…They’re just the team from the Amelia.”

Romina sighed disappointed as the crowd calmed down.

“Hello!” Romina politely said as the team approached for the scheduled interview. “Wow! You’re looking great team Amelia! How are you feeling tonight? Nervous about tomorrow?”

Romina approached the microphone to Oliver.

“Oh…mmm…Thanks!” Oliver nervously replied. “We’re re-really looking forward to the party and, yes, we’re nervous for tomorrow. How could we not be?!”

Oliver ended with a nervous laugh as he realized Romina was inspecting him from top to bottom.

“If you had seen yourselves in today's combat, you wouldn't be!” Romina complimented as she winked blushing Oliver. She spoke in plural but she was shamelessly talking to Oliver only.

“Well…thank you!” Nina cut. “Be sure to cheer for us tomorrow!”

They politely said goodbye and walked away as Romina kept her eyes fixed on Oliver.

“He’s here!!!” A girl screamed from the crowd, startling Romina out of her reverie.

“He’s here!” Romina said regaining her composure. “The boy of the moment! Our selfless knight! Emil Bushida!”

“He’s so gorgeous!” A fangirl awed.

“Emil! Sign my forehead!” A fanboy shouted as the barricade robots contained the frantic crowd as Emil walked down a shiny hovering motorcycle-like vehicle.

He was wearing sunglasses despite the darkness of the night. He ignored the autograph-asking fans as he walked to the entrance, just waving his hand every now and then.

“Emil! Emil!” Romina urged as Bushida reluctantly took a step back to join the girl. “Long time no see. You’re looking gorgeous as always!”

“It is nice to see you too again,” Emil replied. “Thank you. I thought Teen Grid didn’t cover this event.”

“Well! We had to come after all that you’ve been serving lately!” Romina said. “You haven’t even considered a tiny little bit to get back to singing?”

“That’s old history for me,” Emil answered as he started to walk away.

“Good luck tomorrow!” Romina said as Emil disappeared behind the doors of the party’s venue.

Oliver was taking care of his own business when he saw Emil darting to the toilets from the corner of his right eye.

“BLERGH!!!” Oliver heard Emil dismantle down the toilet as he tried to finish his own business.

He wanted to leave, he seriously wanted to, but instead, he pulled up his zipper, washed his hands, went to the toilet area, and said.

“Are you okay?” Oliver said through the half-open toilet door, instantly regretting the obviousness of the question.

“Isn’t it obvious!?” Emil replied jarringly. “Leave!”

Oliver weighed it but he knew nervous sickness, it had haunted him too many times before he learned to handle it. He knew what an awful experience it might be for a beginner.

“Well…I mean… do you need any help, do you want me to call a health advice robot?” He questioned with a gentler voice and peeked through the door to find a paper-pale Emil shaking on the floor.

“I told you to leave,” Emil responded as he flushed the toilet, stood up, and opened the door to find concerned-faced-Oliver.

“I’m fine,” Emil replied as he walked out of the room but his legs didn’t think the same as he fell to the floor unable to hold his weight.

“Leave! Please leave me!” Emil thought as Oliver passed his arm behind his shoulder and helped him walk to the health advice robot cabin.

“They’re probably going to give you an electrolytic shot and maybe you should ask for a down-stress session,” Oliver said.

“You’ll be feeling brand new as new in less than an hour,” the health advice robot said.

Emil sighed in disappointment, “Right on schedule,” he thought while massaging his forehead after the headache caused by seeing his soon-to-be-beaten helper disappear into the hustle of the party.

…

“Ninety-eight percent, ninety-nine percent…restarting,” Quenzie chimed as its circuits returned to life.

“Quenzie! Oliver needs help!” Nina shouted from the distance.

It took Quenzie a few seconds to remember what happened and quickly hovered over Mike and Nina who were helping Oliver walk. Oliver’s head was bleeding, and his dapper outfit for the party was in rags revealing the bruises on his torso, he could barely walk.

“Leave him to me,” Quenzie ordered as it unfolded a stretcher from its left panel, ensembled the stretcher on top of itself, and indicated Mine and Nina to lay Oliver down.

Quenzie rapidly drove Oliver to the nearest health center, where the staff took Oliver in for testing.

“Quenzie, we have to report Bushida, now!” Mike said as he headed toward the door and turned to see that the robot stayed still next to Nina.

“I’m afraid that it won’t be that easy…” Quenzie sadly replied.

“Oliver attacked first, Mike,” Nina said.

“But he was provoked by Bushida!” Mike claimed.

“Even so, it would be hard to prove anything,” Quenzie said. “I’ve just swept the area looking for useful recording but the zoo’s vigilance system is playing a dancing monkey. They should have hacked it.”

An advice robot entered the room and rolled to the discussing trio.

“Your friend is recovering,” the advice robot said. “His head injury turned out to be just superficial, but he’s severely beaten. I’ve notified the enforcers’ department, and they will arrive shortly to take your statement.”

The advice robot left the room. The trio stood in a trance for a while.

“Look if we report the most likely thing is that both teams will be disqualified,” Nina sternly indicated. “So it will be up to Oliver to decide whether he wants to report them or he wants to fight.”

…

“How are you feeling?” Mike asked in the darkness of the tunnel. He could hear the chants from the public as the announcer started the show.

“The ice bath helped,” Oliver replied, as he fixed the handling suit he clenched his teeth at the sudden wave of pain that hit him. His arms were fine, his chest ached every time he breathed but he had already gotten used to that. The problems were his neck, which whiplashed after the kick on the head, and his left knee, he didn’t remember how it had gotten twice its size.

“And say hello to the charming team from the Amelia!” Vociferated the announcer as the three teammates walked out of the tunnel and over a bridge to the booth area under the roar of the audience. Nina and Mike helped Oliver like crutches to put as little weight as he could on his left leg before the combat began.

Sea breeze hit Oliver’s face, he looked down at the seawater lit by the stadium’s lighting. The Ellipsis Stadium had opened to increase its capacity, now the combat ring floated surrounded by the sea.

“It’s so nice having the open configuration of the Ellipsis,” Antoine said from the commenters' booth.

“Agreed, but look, Antoine!” Alex commented. “It seems like Athena’s handler is injured! What a shame!”

“And let’s give a warm welcome to the ruthless team from the Kazuhara!” The announcer called out as the team ran to their handling booth as a group of Emil’s fans chanted a personalized cheer for him.

“Contenders! Athena, Kotomine,” Shouted the referee. “To your positions!”

The new display of the ring allowed Oliver to cross glances with Emil before putting the handling loop on. He positioned Athena head-to-head with Kotomine.

“Contenders, fight!” The referee ordered.

Athena collided shoulder-to-shoulder with Kotomine and started pushing, trying to reach for its opponent’s armpit. Kotomine broke free and started circling the ring. Kotomine approached, Oliver reacted but Kotomine jumped back. Oliver struggled to regain balance after his opponent moved out of reach.

“Contenders, fight!”

Kotomina kicked for Athena’s right leg, Oliver tried to block it but Kotomine’s foot backward and punched Athena in the neck.

The surge of pain hit Oliver as the impact displaced him inside the booth. He went for Kotomine’s hip, Kotomine eluded the attempt. Kotomine launched for Athena’s right arm but returned the movement when Oliver reacted. Another feint. Athena tried a flying kick, but Kotomine dodged it.

“Oliver, focus!” Nine shouted from outside the booth. “You don’t fight like this!”

Oliver didn’t listen. Kotomine went for a shoulder tackle, but Oliver noticed it preparing to jump back.

“Got you!” Oliver thought.

Athena managed to grab Kotomine’s right leg. Athena started lifting but Kotomine kicked Athena’s left leg. The impact hit Oliver’s knee, pain flared up his leg. Athena lost its balance and started to fall as Kotomine rotated to get over Athena.

Both robots slammed the floor, as well as Oliver, as everything around him darkened.