After sixteen heats, and sixty four hopefuls being whittled down to just sixteen, we€™re ready to get on with the next part of the NSBFL campaign. In the heats, the axle €˜bot Sonic Boom smashed and battered the good Call Out Hook into submission, then caused the first shock of the tournament by upsetting champ Achilles on a judges decision! Revenge of the Stupidly Long Name took out fifteenth seeds Love Bite after a few blows broke it, then pushed Glasgow Kiss into the moat after another dominant fight. If either of these two machines missed each other, it could do serious damage to a wooden floor. Thankfully we€™re using the metal floored Last €˜Bot Standing arena.

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ACTIVATE!!

Sonic Boom is off so fast, it practically leaves its own Doppler effect! The axle €˜bot goes in for an overhead slam on the side of ROTROTB, but is soon scooped up onto the dustpan scoop, and the nitrogen slams down, missing the small target of Sonic Boom, but managing to latch onto Sonic Boom and stop it escaping. ROTROTB starts pushing Sonic Boom around, but with nowhere but the walls to push Sonic Boom, lets go. Immediately, Sonic Boom rushes away, only to come in again with another overhead slam! ROTROTB spins around and the hammer shoots, again missing Sonic Boom and hitting the floor!

Sonic Boom spins away from ROTROTB and slams in repeatedly at the top as ROTROTB spins around and again slams the floor with the hammer, bouncing up in the process! Sonic Boom keeps up the barrage of attacks, missing some but still keeping up a better hit to miss ratio than ROTROTB, reversing away from ROTROTB as it turns around and attacks the floor again, mistakenly believing Sonic Boom to be there. As before, the tenacious axle €˜bot comes in while Steve is retracting the axe and sorting out his aiming to slam in at the top of ROTROTB, but not doing much to the hardox armour. On the other hand, the paint job is starting to look rather suspect.

Rather than trying to nail Sonic Boom with the axe again, ROTROTB scoops it p onto the dustpan and pins it against the wall, then firing the axe, hitting the wall instead of the floor for a change! ROTROTB backs off to get a better shot in, but Sonic Boom again spins away from the attack, almost getting clipped by the hammer as it does so! Almost doesn€™t get you anywhere though, and Sonic Boom escapes by just driving over ROTROTB and starts slamming into it from behind! Sonic Boom is forced to retreat however, as the hammer almost nails it on the way back! ROTROTB reverses at Sonic Boom, but the axle€™ bot gets away faster and spins on the spot! By the time ROTROTB is caught up enough to fire the hammer, it€™s knocked away and once more attacks the floor instead!

ROTROTB spins around and scoops Sonic Boom once more, and the hammer flashes down, finally managing to hit Sonic Boom! The part hit in question is the axe pole, and when the hammer rises again to fire once more, no damage is seen on Sonic Boom€™s equally tough armour! Still, the hammer catches Sonic Boom again on the pole before it can get away, slamming ROTROTB on the top as it gets away! ROTROTB gives chase, but all its attacks miss and hit the floor, and the hammer looks to be moving slower now! Seeing this, Dan quits holding back, and Sonic Boom really goes to town with the overhead slams on ROTROTB! With the axe not moving fast enough to do enough damage, sonic Boom pretty much ignores evasion, and slams into ROTROTB!

ROTROTB is pushing Sonic Boom all over the arena, but that doesn€™t seem to matter as Dan seems content to let him! Sonic Boom is staying right in ROTROTB€™s face (if it had a face anyway. Shut up) and keeping up with the slams even as ROTROTB shoves it around! Eventually, ROTROTB starts to behave like its axe and moves slower and slower, prompting Sonic Boom to attack with even more frenzy, and within almost a minute, ROTROTB has stopped completely! Sonic Boom does a victory twirl in the centre of the arena as ROTROTB is counted out, eventually tipping over and spinning on one wheel alone!

When examined, it later turned out the repeated hammer blows from Sonic Boom caused ROTROTB€™s batteries to give out, cutting essential power to the motors. Maybe we€™ll see Revenge of the Revenge of the Revenge of the Bludgeonater in NSBFL 8, but for now Sonic Boom crashes on!