GIANT FREAKIN' ROBOTS

* GIANT FREAKIN' ROBOTS part 39: Hog fodder

"That little shit," said Spotswood, remembering the brief  fist fight he had with Hayashi during the Kyoto Team's tour of the factory.

"Sure, why not," said Lumin. "Audio only...I don't want to see his smug face."

"Greetings, Lumin-chan," said Hayashi, snidely. "Ready to lose?"

Lumin turned down the volume. "Hello Hayashi. Are you ready to live up to your nickname, 'Early Death?'"

Hayashi laughed obnoxiously. "I just want to hear you gasp in horror when you see...this!" Lumin put Biz into a defensive stance as the Kyoto Team's bots started moving closer to each other. The jaguar reared up on its massive hind legs and held solidly as the other two bots flanked the jaguar on each side. The pair twisted and began splitting open--nearly in half--before their splayed bodies clamped to the jaguar's frame with incredible force. A loud whirr and series of clanks echoed throughout the arena as the three robots and their power source began to merge into one machine.

"Holy shit! They're going full Voltron!" yelled Spotswood.

Katerina plugged her ears. "It sounds like a construction site in here."

"You have to be kidding me," said Lumin. She began firing concussion rounds into the mass of merging metal, hoping to interrupt the process or knock the jaguar's legs off balance. Her blasts did little but put a few dents in the machines' ebony armor. The legs of the bipedal robots served as glorified kickstands, keeping the machines steady as they merged.

The arena's audience became so loud that Lumin could hear them inside her control bell through the ferrofluid. "Shit! That thing's going to be huge!" She started firing at the "kickstands" but they held solid. The jaguar's front limbs folded inward as the oversized claw and geodesic dome of the bipedal bots became the robot's new arms. One of the four supports fell away, slamming loudly to the dirt below.

"Did I damage it?" asked Lumin.

"I don't think so, Lumin. Get ready for an attack when the last strut falls away. Be ready for anything!" said Samuel.

Hyashi was laughing maniacally. Lumin muted his transmission. "Shut up."

"Lumin, you gotta rush that thing and knock it over before it's done transforming!" yelled Richard.

"Transformers, more than meets the eye," Dezzie started singing.

"Shh!" ordered Yasamin, transfixed on the  battlefield.

Lumin prepared to rush her opponent. She took a step forward in the ferrotank but Biz didn't respond. Without warning, the ferrofluid surrounding her shook violently. "Guys, what the hell is happening? I can't move!" Lumin could twist Biz and move his arms, but his legs had become frozen in place.

"Something exploded inside Biz's abdomen!" said Richard, in a panic. "The electrical system is going haywire. Voltage spikes are lighting up the diagnostic board."

"An explosion? How, Richard?" asked Lumin.

"I don't know. The starboard bridge converter is completely fried. The actuators controlling Biz's lower limbs will be out of commission until we get the electrical load regulated again."

Lumin could see smoke rising from Biz's side through the remote cameras. "We have contingency systems in place for this. Reroute the power!"

Richard crushed a package of Twinkies sitting near him in frustration. "I can't. A chunk of the posterior heat sink was knocked lose by the blast. It's wedged in the redundancy system, shorting out the circuit. Biz will be paralyzed from the waist down until the blockage is removed," said Richard.