Sunday, March 21, 2010

New Production Robotoy: Battlecry Episode 1

A long time ago, some Anonymous made THIS:
Now, /m/'s Paper Funnels 64 has turned it into THIS:

(EDITED 4/18: Minor error corrected as part of the package for Episode 2.)

      Episode 1: MONSTER ATTACK
      Episode Summary: Shaun Indigo is summoned to Neo Yark by his estranged father Gary, commander of the toy company Nerve, to defend the city from a giant Monster toy by piloting the only weapon capable of battling the monster: Toy Type-01.
      "Dad! Why did you bring me here?" Shaun cried out, glaring at the man above him. He had come all this way to Neo Yark, only to be pulled aside and brought to Nerve's underground factory--the boy was understandably indignant.
      "Shaun, my toy company has come up with a new prototype robot toy, and we need you to test it!" Gary Indigo smirked, looming down at his son through the glass.
      "You want me to fight? No way! You were a pacifist!"
      "Times change, Shaun. Another company is fielding their 'Monster' as we speak. Come Shaun, let us wage glorious war together!"
      "Why me...?" Shaun muttered, despondent. First mother had been sent to another dimension, and now his own father was sending him to join her!
      "You're the only one who can." Gary shrugged.
      "I can't do it. I've never even heard of this thing until now. What makes you think I can do it?"
      "You have no other recourse, Shaun."
      "No. It's impossible...I don't even know how to play with toys..."
      "That's what Melissa and Rita are for." Gary gestured to the two women, "You will pilot Type-1 or leave."
      On the eight monitors at his side Gary could see the explosion breaking out, a downward pillar of fire piercing through the factory's underground barrier.
      "They found us." Shaun dared think the man pleased by the news.
      "Shaun, we have no time." Rita insisted.
      "Get into it." Melissa leaned close, putting her hand on his shoulder.
      "No! It's stupid! I'm too old for toys..."
      "Shaun...are you afraid of toys? Don't run away from this!"
      "I'm not afraid! I'm a pacifist!"
      Gary scowled at the child, calling up his subordinate on the screen.
      "Fitzgerald. Wake up Rachel."
      "Is that a good idea?" Fitzgerald inquired skeptically.
      "She's not in another dimension."
      In a moment Rachel was on screen, her scarlet eyes run deep with worry.
      "Rachel."
      "Yes?"
      "I'm sorry, but your replacement is useless. You can't retire yet."
      "Reconfigure Type-1 for Rachel!" Rita instructed the men at Toy Type-1's shoulders, "Reboot!"
      Shaun eyed them all cautiously as the workers scurried about to ready the plaything.
      "They don't need me after all...that's good, because I'm a pacifist."
      His eyes widened as a gurney rattled into the hangar, the blur-haired adolescent wrapped in thick bandages. A tremor cycled through the room as another explosion broke out, a light fixture detatching itself; on impulse Shaun leapt forward with a cry of "Watch out!"
      Suddenly kneeling by the girl, he gazed up, wondering why the light fixture hadn't sent him to another dimension; and found Type-1's hand arched high above the pair. A crowd of protests arose from the workers.
      "The toy moved! Who turned it on?!"
      "It broke through the bindings!"
      "Impossible!" Rita joined the disgruntled men, "We didn't insert the AA batteries. It can't move!"
      "Type-1 protected him..." Melissa marveled, "Shaun, you can do it!"
      Shaun was no longer focusing on the hand. Instead his gaze moved to Rachel, noting how she must have been doing better since all her papercuts had healed, though she was still weak. He had never felt like this before; had never protected anything in his life. Trembling, he turned to his hand--the hand that had saved this girl.
      'I've never saved anyone in my life,' Shaun realized grimly, 'Saving people is wonderful! I can only save people if I stop being a pacifist! Pacifists can't do anything! I can't run away!'
      "I'll do it!" He announced, "I'll pilot Type-1!"


      Melissa Cassidy watched as Shaun's cockpit slowly filled, the boy attempting to hold his breath against the wave of orange fluid.
      "Wh-what is this?!"
      "Relax. This is oxygenated alkaline, from the Type-1's battery. You'll be able to breath it without repercussions." Rita was quite dismissive as she watched the Type-1's charts rise.
      "Waahhhh...gross..." Shaun was whining now.
      "You're a boy, aren't you?! Take it like a boy!" Melissa demanded.
      "Ma'am, Type-1 is plugged in." One of the staff alerted them, "The batteries aren't finished yet, so we had to use power cords."
      "Understood. Set English as the main language. Initial contacts are going well..." Once something began, Rita's eyes never left the screen.
      "The mutual lines are connecting. Static margin is at 41%!" Mana announced--another of Rita's worker bees.
      "Great!"
      "Harmonics are normal."
      "It's time." What could have been a smile crossed Rita's lips, but Melissa doubted she remembered how to do that.
      "Move Toy Type-1 to the launch pad." Melissa commanded; as the locks released and the restraints were pulled away, TT-1 was wheeled into position for launch, "Are you all right with this?"
      "Of course," Gary smirked, hands steeped below his nose, "We must defeat our rivals in honorable combat."
      "Are you really okay with this," Fitzgerald mouthed, not agreeing with his partner.
      "Toy Type-1, take up the launch!"
      A single bolt of blue signaled the Toy's launch, arriving at Neo Yark's surface almost instantly, ready to face off with the lumbering husk assaulting the city.
      "Are you ready, Shaun?" Melissa inquired, not altogether certain she herself was ready.
      "Y...yeah."
      "Turn off the safety! Toy Type-1, lift off!"
      Shaun approached the beast nervously, the Toy's legs shambling over one another unsteadily before it finally tripped, Shaun's face stinging as the concrete collided with it.
      "Shaun, get up!" Melissa shrieked.
      There was no time to respond; the Monster's arm latched on against him, strangling Shaun as it lifted Type-1 off the ground. Shaun opened his eyes--and at once shut them as his wrists were restrained, the Monster tugging at them violently.
      "Shaun, you're just getting feedback!" Melissa cautioned him, "That's not your arm it's hurting!"
      Rita shot a glare Mana's way, "Why hasn't Type-1 made a force field?!"
      "The signal's not working! We can't control it!"
      Shaun heard something snap in Type-1--and a moment later the pain registered in his own arm, pulling back as a silent scream burst from his lips.
      "The circuits in the left arm are damaged!"
      "Shaun, dodge it!" Melissa wasn't sure how he could dodge that, but he needed to.
      A spear pierced slammed against Type-1's violet face, reeling back and striking once more, and again, until finally the Monster's claws drove him backwards into a skyscraper. Type-1's head hung low and empty, little more than the stark white eyes that glowered from behind its broken, bloodless helm.
      "The head is cracked!"
      "More than cracked, it's broken wide open!"
      Emergency signals began to blossom in the command center, Melissa's ears ringing from the sirens.
      "Synchrographs have reversed. I'm getting a backwards pulse!" Mana sounded on the verge of tears, utterly panicked.
      "Cut the circuits!" Rita ordered, "We can't let this go on!"
      "No response!"
      "Eject the batteries by force!" Melissa interjected; this madness had to stop.
      "It's completely out of control!"
      "A berserker?!" Rita gasped.
      And suddenly Type-1 began to tremble, stomping the ground; its breathing was heavy and irregular, eyes aglow with hate. With a roar it stampeded forward, jaggedly cutting the distance between itself and the Monster, its guttural cries like laughter echoing across Neo Yark.
      Fitzgerald smiled.
      "Checkmate."
      "As long as a Monster has its forcefield, Type-1 can't touch it." Rita commented; on cue the Monster's field came alive, brilliant orange lights barring the Toy's assault.
      Type-1 ignored the obstruction, its snapped arm regenerating. Its fingers wrapped against and peeled away at the field, effortlessly clearing the way.
      "Brilliant!" Mana exclaimed, "Shaun raised his own field to neutralize the Monster's!"
      The Monster was not so easily deterred; in a flash it sent Type-1 hurtling back once more, another pillar of flame rippling against the toy's armor. Type-1 recovered, grabbing hold of the Monster's arms and returning the earlier favor, shattering them both in a display of raw carnage.
      Kicking the beast back and leaping upon the Monster, Type-1 drew a knife from its shoulder, savagely stabbing at the creature. Furious cries bellowed from its mouth as the robot attacked, and as it finally buried the weapon in the Monster's torso, the arms rose up to straddle the toy.
      "It's self-destructing?!" Melissa cried out in horror as the scene played over; and from the flaming wreckage of Neo Yark, Type-1 lumbered forward.
      Gary Indigo breathed a sigh of relief.
      'So, my son will not be sent to another dimension today.'

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