Part Thirty: Why I Care

As Roboco quickly sidestepped to avoid a flurry of daggers thrown by Spade Echo, Kaoru took his red Beyblade and shot it towards the robot girl, the holographic dragon creature emerging from it as it charged towards her. Reacting quickly, Roboco crossed her arms in a Wonder Woman-like fashion in order to block the spinning top. She grunted in pain as the flames from the top singed her arms. In time, she managed to burst her arms open, sending the Beyblade hurling back towards Kaoru and hitting him in the stomach at full force. He toppled to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth. Spade Echo dashed towards the boy and checked his vitals.

"He's alive, but his breathing's a bit unsteady," Spade Echo informed Nozomi, "Can you do this on your own?"

"Piece of cake," Nozomi said with a grimace, clutching his sword, "Guard him over there, I'll make sure the fight stays away from him."

"Understood," the phantom thief nodded, carrying Kaoru to a corner in the barrier and setting him down. She quickly stood in front of him and summoned two daggers, ready to do battle if necessary.

"Hehe…" Kaoru coughed with a small grin, "You have a really pretty bed of hair, Miss Echo… how 'bout we try out a different style when we get home…?"

"I think I'd like that, Kaoru-kun," Spade Echo smiled, looking on at the duel between Roboco and Kaoru.

"Roboco-san, come on!" he said in between sword strikes, "This isn't the you I know!"

This statement caused Roboco to recoil, jumping backwards and giving a fierce expression.

"What do you know about me?" she questioned, her voice significantly deeper than her usual tone, perhaps due to this 'KEY' that 004 had activated.

"So you can talk… that's good…" Nozomi said, keeping his sword in a fighting position, "I'll admit, there is a lot I don't know about you, Roboco-san."

"Then why are you wasting your words?" she asked, her face scrunching up a bit from anger, "Let us fight already."

"You didn't let me finish," he chuckled, his battle stance becoming less cautious, "But I do know that you're a very kind person. You put others before yourself and you always manage to put smiles on the faces of others. You're also quite the shy one, aren't you? Which is not to say you're not an extrovert, but you sometimes struggle with bringing up your feelings. And you've got some pretty heavy emotional baggage, if what I heard right before that 'KEY' thing activated was right."

"You absolute idiot…" the robot girl muttered under her breath, her right eye slowly turning from purple to yellow. She promptly dashed towards the boy with her axe-arm. Nozomi's Survival Instinct kicked in as he brought the sword to the axe's blade, fighting it off.

"You know nothing about me…" she murmured, putting her full strength up to the blade as beads of sweat ran down her face, "You have no clue of the horrors I've gone through."

"You're right, I don't!" Nozomi shouted, struggling to keep his balance as the robot girl kept her strength up against the blade, "But I want to know you! I want to help you! I want to comfort you!"

"You… goddamn bastard!" she cried out as tears formed in the corners of her cheeks, her voice slowly turning into the higher pitched voice Nozomi loved, her eyes flickering purple and yellow, "You don't want me! Nobody wants me! I'll just cause problems for everyone! How crazy it is to think, the high-spec robot idol will bring about the world's cataclysm!"

"Shut UP, Roboco!" Nozomi took his foot and forcefully shoved it into the robot girl's abdomen, sending her stumbling backwards, "You don't know how much you're appreciated! How much you're loved!"

"Ngh," she groaned before dropping to her knees, slow sobs coming from her body and echoing throughout the metal room, her eyes now fully yellow, her hair turning from black to brown, and her voice returning back to normal, "Why do you care about me…? I'm a mistake… I should have never been created…"

"Stop saying shit like this, Roboco!" he yelled, tossing his sword away and walked towards the girl, "I care for you… because…"

He stammered. Is now… truly the best time?

"Do it," Tamashi said with a serious tone, "She asked why you care about her. She deserves an honest answer."

'But that'd break that promise I made with you, wouldn't it?' Nozomi asked.

"Haha, you've got a good memory!" Tamashi laughed, taking a sip of tea, "Honestly though, Tamashi, you really oughta stop worrying about small stuff like that. Take a look at the big picture and determine what's important."

'I guess… you're right,' Nozomi conceded, 'Hah, my Echo talking sense into me? How funny. Seriously though, I'm glad I met you.'

"Pleasure's all mine, Nozomi," Tamashi chuckled, "Now, let's get to fessin'."

'Understood,' Nozomi smiled softly and walked closer up to the robot girl, who was still sobbing. She found it difficult to look at the teen in the eyes.

"Roboco, I care for you because…" Nozomi struggled to get the words out, blushing a bit and stretching out his hand to help Roboco up, "I care for you because I'm in love with you."

...

Toko's bloody claws took the three keys and gave one of them to Shin, who unlocked their cell door. Fueled by rage, Shin took the other two keys and unlocked the cell door, grimacing at 006. He merely grinned as he stabbed a dagger into Ina'nis' hand, causing her to screech out in pain.

"You literal bastard…" he cursed under his breath, pulling out his scythe, "You'll pay for your sins."

"Oh, I'm sure!" 006 cackled, driving the dagger deeper into her skin, "But not today. This is the most important day of my career, after all."

"I wouldn't count on it," Toko said with her ever cold expression, shaking her claws off as droplets of blood splattered onto the ground, "We killed your reflection. We can kill you."

"Well, here's the thing," 006 smirked, taking the red dagger out of the priestess' hand and pointing it at Shin, "Reflections are… an imperfect technology. They're much like duplicates, except they don't retain the same strength as the individual that was duplicated, nor is there any chance for mutations. However, they're much more practical in battle, as they only cost a small amount of mana to summon."

"So you're saying you're stronger than those things? That's some big talk, you know?" Shin scoffed, taking out his blade, "Toko, watch over Ina'nis. I don't suppose you know healing magic?"

"I'm afraid not. Being Cerberus and all, I'm supposed to guard, not heal," Toko explained.

"I thought not. Just wrap her wounds up in this," Shin said, taking out a small red scarf from his pocket and handing it over to Toko.

"Ngh, you still have that, Shin?" Ina'nis smiled, looking over at the red-headed reaper, "That makes me feel happy…"

"It's a well-made scarf, what can I say?" Shin grinned, pointing his scythe at 006 and revealing his canines, "The Scythe King will make sure this punk goes down for the count for ya, alright?!"

...

Melody ran out of the room and brought up a small map. She was in the right hallway, and three doors down was a computer room that was receiving and sending signals to the room in which Nozomi and 004 were in. Quickly reacting, she ran towards the room and went invisible as not to draw attention to herself. There sat a man looking to be around his mid-twenties wearing a visor and typing rapidly at a computer in front of him. Still not breaking her cover, Melody entered the computer to see what he was doing. Upon closer inspection, Melody found that the man was attempting to strengthen the shields in the room where Nozomi and 004 were doing battle. Scoffing, Melody exited the computer.

"H-hey! You aren't supposed to-'' the man stammered before being interrupted by an energy blast to the face by Melody's arm. She simply sighed, taking a second look at the desk. Glancing over, she noticed an odd book with a USB protruding from it. Curious, she went over and stretched a hand over to touch it. The moment she did, however, foreign voices began to fill her mind as a searing headache penetrated her forehead. She pulled back in pain, clutching her head as she stumbled a few steps back. Opening an eye and taking a closer look, she recognized it. It was Ina'nis' book. How the enemy was able to pry it out of Ina'nis' hands, Melody was unsure, but that was definitely Ina'nis' book. She went over to the computer and began scouring through a variety of files, finding not much of importance, but she was able to weaken the barrier magic that 004 had put up. She then took a second look at the book that she had touched. Grimacing, she mustered the courage to touch it again. It hurt, but she got used to the pain and clutched the book in both hands as she began to make a dash towards the center hallway to join up with Shin's group.