The Explosive Robot

Chapter 12: Aftermath

The sheer power of the explosion sent all of the Brawlers flying off their feet. Bibi felt herself hurtling through the air as the deafening boom was followed by a constant ringing in her ears. The flames blazed brighter than usual, their light blinding her the very moment the explosion occurred.

The bitter taste of ashes found its way into Colt's mouth as the sheriff crash-landed in a mess of ruins, the sharper rocks stabbing into his flesh almost in an instant. Colt howled in pain, but his deafened ears can't even register his voice after the explosion.

A blinding light from the explosion swept across the entire town. Even the columns of smoke that arose disintegrated away in the flood of light. Everything was showered in the endless whiteness that burned with power.

Pain coursed through Bibi's soul as she finally landed on the ground. She could no longer tell whether or not was she alive or dead. Whenever she opened her eyes, the killer whiteness stretched on endlessly from all sides. Meanwhile, closing her eyes only brings her the fear of being subjected to complete darkness.

What...... In the world...... Just happened...... Bibi's thoughts could barely be pieced together due to the excruciating pain.

The burning sensation that the light brought along caused all Brawlers to either lose their consciousness to the pain or scream as their souls failed to succumb mercifully.

Bibi closed her eyes and wished not to open them ever again.

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The gentle wind blew through the abnormally silent town.

Tumbleweeds rolled across the sandy ground, some of them bumping into the short buildings that provided shade from the harsh sun.

Tiny rocks tumbled in the breeze as the opened door slammed into its frame over and over again.

Colt could see none of this. In fact, the only thing he could see right then was the same whiteness that had blinded him in the explosion.

He'd assumed that the terrifying phenomena destroyed every last bit of Brawl Town, killing all of the Brawlers along with it.

He wouldn't have been able to tell life from death all the same, as the white light seemed to imprint itself both in his vision and in his mind.

And that was when Colt felt something else other than the burning pain that the explosion had somehow branded into his nerves. It was a cooling sensation on his face, like the gentle touch of a caring parent.

The coolness seemed to spread all over the place. Soon, Colt's soul was being washed over by the mysterious calming feel. The pain that the explosion somehow infused in his spirit was chased away by the cooling feel across his entire body.

And slowly but gently, Colt found himself opening his eyes.

He wasn't greeted with the eternal sea of light.

The sky was a pure blue canvas that stretched on infinitely through the air. Small, wispy clouds floated through the air as the sun shone down harshly in the sky.

Colt forced himself to sit upright. He looked at his limbs and noted how they were devoid of wounds and injury.

Colt looked around. Empty, barren land covered in dunes of sand went on as far as the eye could see. The ground around him in particular was shadowed by something behind him.

Colt turned around and saw Town Hall standing firmly in the sun.

'Huh?'

Colt shook his head and walked towards the metal building, confused. He remembered the explosion that had occurred. Town Hall should've been reduced to nothing by now.

He wasn't even supposed to be uninjured and alive right now.

Colt pushed through the metal doors of Town Hall and scanned the area. The orange platform that teleports the Brawlers to the outside world still glowed with power, and the screen that occasionally reports major news from the human realm was off and silent as per usual.

'You're awake.'

Colt whipped out his guns as he spun around and was just about to pull the trigger when the tip of the metal bat appeared right in front of him.

'You're awake too.'

'Been so for the past hour or two.' Bibi twirled her bat as she stepped back to lean against the wall. 'You're the last one to wake up.'

'I never managed to wake up in time for those 9 AM Brawl Ball matches anyway.'

Bibi chuckled before sighing. 'Mike and Bo say that it's the work of the "Great Spirit of Brawl Town" or something among those lines.' She shrugged. 'If that was part of something I was told about upon arrival, I've forgotten all about it.'

'We don't really talk about that spirit much because some of us highly doubt its existence.' Colt rolled his eyes as he lowered his guns, but he said a silent prayer to whoever this spirit was. Even as one of the earliest Brawlers to join Brawl Town, he couldn't help but think that the spirit Dynamike made a long speech about was just part of the old man's hallucinations. But now it seemed like that same old spirit had just saved them from total death and destruction.

'Anyway, everyone's planning a costume party of some sort. Says that they will be using the special outfits and designs that these unknown people made for us.'

'You mean the fanmade skins?' Colt couldn't help but think that the idea was slightly stupid.

'Yeah. It's supposed to be a victory celebration. I might pass; parties aren't my cup of tea.' Bibi shrugged as she got up. 'Come on, let's go and join them. Don't want to keep them worrying.'

'Alright.' Colt pushed the doors open as he walked out. 'Oh, and Bibi?'

'Hmm?' Bibi chewed on another piece of bubblegum.

'Sorry for making fun of your somewhat unhealthy coping mechanism.'

Bibi actually laughed this time. '"I love you, Mr Bat."' She spoke in a very exaggerated voice, and Colt found his sides aching as he laughed and punched the ground over and over again. 'Yeah, I think I'll talk to Pam about it. Sorry for getting extremely mad at you, too. If we didn't scream death threats at each other like stupid little kids, Tick wouldn't have become a crazy tin can and everyone would've carried on with their daily lives as per usual.'

Colt got up with difficulty as he continued to tremble due to his laughter. 'Alright, alright. Let's go over to wherever everyone else is at- where are they, exactly?'

'Bull's Diner. He's having a cooking competition with Mike. Can't wait to see what crazy fire-inducing dishes they are going to make.'

As Colt and Bibi chatted away on their way to the Diner, Penny was looking through Tick's circuit board in the little hut at Robo Restop.

'So the AI got kinda fried when his first death occurred, and he carried out his auto-killing system a little too intensely......' Penny sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow, the analytics from the quick maintenance check on Tick's data chip filling the blue screen of the computer. 'Dang it. I should have listened to Pam about teaching the tin can instead of implementing absurd codes- wait, what's this?'

A small line of words highlighted in red caught Penny's eye as she scanned through the history of data processing that went on in Tick's robotic brain. She jotted down the words in a notebook that lay on the desk.

'"Power transfer from Cyria completed". Power transfer from Cyria? Who in the name of Blackbeard is Cyria? I guess I'm just gonna have to ask Bo or Mike......'

THE END

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There are some author notes to read as per usual.