(continued from last post)


Wanting some action in the name of the house robots, Asterix is quick to oblige and happily lifts the yellow'n'black robot up, but fails to keep a stable hold on it and GFI falls off... to be stampeded by that damned Scottish flipper! Wedge Devo screams in and wedges GFI, flipping it directly into the upraised patented "moustache forks" of Asterix! GFI bounces down off those and onto Wedge Devo, pushing its flipper back down. Devo flips again, but Asterix lowers the forks, so GFI gets stuck between the flipper and the forks! Luckily for him, ToC comes in from behind and gets under the rear skirt of Wedge Devo, and with a great heave-HO, pancake-flips Wedge Devo, straight over top of Asterix! Wedge Devo lands right on top of the house robot, still right-side-up, but not sure where to go! At that moment, Tengu rejoins the fray, and takes a bite out of ToC's side by slamming into it, knocking ToC into the wall and causing a bit more damage to the wheelguard! ToC didn't like that much, and now blazes after Tengu with a vengeance - and just narrowly avoids the other house robot, Rorschach, who'd sped across the arena to help Asterix fight off the other invaders! Good For It dodges around him as well, escaping the CPZ, so it looks like Wedge Devolution is in some trouble here! Rorschach stops outside of the CPZ, giving Asterix some room. What's going on?! Asterix leaves us in doubt hardly any longer, as he begins to spin around! Yee-haw, ride 'em cowbot! Unfortunately Wedge Devolution isn't exactly a star at riding a Terror-Bull and the force eventually shakes him free! Rorschach charges at him straight away, but Steve backs his machine off! Who'd want to ride Rorschach, anyway?! Concurrently, ToC has wedged Tengu and now given the British spinner some flipper love, in the form of a catapult-style flip that sends the Holt machine at least 8 feet into the air! Tengu crashes down onto its back, but immediately begins to self-right! ToC wants more! And it gets more, but not more of what it expected - Good For It slams into ToC's side again, doing slightly more damage to the wheelguard and sending ToC away from Tengu! ToC reels, and Tengu gets back up to speed! GFI however goes after Tengu, not caring who he's attacking, as long as he has his defined targets! Good god, kudos for the multi-tasking there, Sir 'Zooki! Looks like the hazards have slowed down now too... quite the pity that is. The spinners collide, their wills intent own their own spinners instead of the arena one! CRAAAASH!!! Teeth meet teeth again, and sparks rain down in the midst of the mighty blow! Tengu goes flying, hits the side wall, and stabilizers itself, but GFI didn't fare as well, flying straight back into ToC! Well, guess what Josh thinks of that, me good chum? FLIP! GFI soars into the air, flicked like a bi-centennial half-dollar coin! It crashes down onto the floor heavily, but doesn't get a breather before Tengu comes back in and lashes out at the stalled spinner, knocking it away with a minor hit - straight into Wedge Devo, who's back for more! FLIP! GFI is taking heavy abuse now as it lands pretty damn hard onto the arena floor - but ToC doesn't take the cheap shot! He instead attacks Tengu again! Alex manoeuvres his machine away - but not quickly enough! ToC has his say! FLIP! Tengu soars like a bird, but not as gracefully, and the landing is even less graceful! Tengu bounces end over end, and comes to rest on its back again! Up goes the arm, and ToC races in to prevent Tengu from recovering, but the flip, it is mis-timed! Tengu scurries away, and ToC gives chase!


GFI itself is in a spot of trouble itself, having endured yet another flip from the Braveheart machine, and finds itself unable to get away from it! Wedge Devo saunters around with GFI on its flipper plate, looking around for Tengu, but finds ToC nearer! And guess what? Good For It is beginning to spin up again, even while on the flipper! OOH... there goes the Scotland flag and the siren! "Criminy!" shouts Steve! Wedge Devo flies all the way across the arena and with an almighty SLAAAM, bulldozes GFI straight into ToC, as Josh turns to try and get the front in - GFI hits ToC's side! ToC gets nailed, and is ricocheted into Tengu, who's back up to full spinning speed! CRAAASH!!! The ram plate takes it, but unlike the now warped wheelguard, takes the hit seemingly just fine. ToC however is directed into the wall side-on, and has to re-orient itself to get away from it, since the paddles are in front of him! As he tries to reverse j-hook to get away, Wedge Devo flies in for another bout! FLIP! ToC is knocked into the wall! It self-rights but only into Tengu's spinning blades! CRASH!!! And it's sent into Wedge Devo yet again, but GFI pounces upon the slowed Tengu! And... well, it looks like Tengu's anti-spinning ring is doing its job, as GFI's blades hit it. GFI doesn't slow down much though, and continues to slowly eat into the anti-spinner ring, very veeeeery slowly. Tengu gets the hint and moves away to try and spin up, but is pursued! Wedge Devo meanwhile is having a blast with flipping about its bulky adversary! Every time Josh self-rights his robot, Steve is right there to counter it! And eventually, they get near the arena spinner! Wedge Devo rams him straight into it! And hilariously, the spinner uses Wedge Devo as a ramp to send ToC flying over in a brutal collision; ToC lands in the middle of the arena, its back end badly dented up! The good news? It self-rights away from Wedge Devo, and is in time to face him again! He gets under, he flips! Wedge Devo... lands right-side-up. They lock flippers! Oh my! And Good For It and Tengu? Well, Tengu's recovered and there's another amazing hit which separates the two spinners, and now it's become evident that both of them are really feeling the effects of their weaponry - they lack some drivetrain power now, and their maddened spinners don't accelerate to full speed as quickly! Ye gods, has the spirit of MDU channeled these two behemoths?! Eventually they reach full, deadly speeds again, and haul arse towards each other, as fast as their weakened motors can carry them! CRAAAASH!!! An entire tooth goes flying off of GFI, but Tengu goes flying into the wall! GFI seems to be very unbalanced now, now sputtering, now rattling, rocking back and forth, the loss of its bottom tooth making it very unwieldy! Tengu tries to spin back up itself... but it can't! Have all those hits finally killed off power to its own weapon?! And in come both flippers, like hawks turning on weakened prey! Wedge Devo plows into Good For It and launches it high into the air, while Truth or Consequences makes tracks for the weakened Tengu and tosses it without resistance! Thing is, Wedge Devolution is able to keep Good For It in check, but Tengu's drivetrain, while weakened, seems to outdo Good For It's as he lands right-side-up and then dodges another hit from ToC, sauntering around the American and trying to push him! I don't think that's a battle you're going to win, Tengu! Wa-hey! Wedge Devo charges back in and lets fly with a huge flip on ToC! Cheeky little sod you are, Steve! ToC rights itself, angered, but anger will only get you so far - Wedge Devo flips him again!


10...9...8...7...


Good grief, are we near the end already?! Good For It hobbles over to Tengu with its weakly spinning ring, but does nothing to the green machine. Tengu tries to push it, but has little luck. Meanwhile, Wedge continues flipping ToC, who bounces into one of the paddles and is sent across the arena in comical fashion!


6...5...4...


Wedge Devo continues to 1-up the American by flipping him again, but a 360 flip there means ToC himself recovers, and then weakly tips Wedge Devo over after getting under! Them flippers running a little low on juice, perhaps?


3...2...1...


What's this?! Wedge Devo fires its own flipper, but can't right itself?! The flippers are indeed weakening, just like the spinners' weaponry! But it's a bit too late for a count-out, because...


CEASE!


Whew! That was a melee for the ages! And since all four robots are still moving, this'll be a judges' decision for the ages, too... next post!