The Chevron Championship Series 2 - Medium Medium Speed Ones

[joey_picus]

Heat B
Semi Final 2
Shadow Zone Forever vs. Thor

...as Andy has just informed me, this is a bit of a fail on my part It should read

Heat B
Semi Final 2
Shadow Zone Forever vs. MORD 2

Sorry to Richard for accidentally omitting his machine's name there.

Move along now, nothing to see here...

[velociraptor]

That's OK, Joey - brilliant fight, even though I lost.

[joey_picus]

Thanks Richard, glad to entertain people

The Chevron Championship Series 2: Medium Medium Speed Ones
Heat B final
Thor vs. Shadow Zone Forever

*Team Bud's pit bench, Thor minus its top covers*

Joey: Well, we're at the heat B final...
Liam: *from off camera* About bloody time!
Joey: ...after what I have to admit have been a few delays, and the Thor team seem to be busy getting their robot ready for the finals?
Jason: Well...yeah. Actually the batteries are just on trickle charge, we're all fired up otherwise.
Joey: I see. What's the tactics then, if I need ask?
Shane: Hit it. That usually works.
Jason: To be a bit more precise, hit it repeatedly until it moves, then get it back in range and hit it again.
Joey: No lack of finesse there I see *laughs* Good luck guys, may you hit things until they're as flat as...Flat Stanley.

*over to the bench of Team Zlayerz*

Joey: Are you preparing to be hit and then hit again, Mr. Kunz?
Kody: Hopefully it won't come to that, heh. I've got it mostly worked out.
Joey: Oh?
Kody: Yeah, start with the flipper facing Thor and flip it before it can hit me, try and take the energy out of the impact. Flip it over and then ram it all over the shop really.
Joey: Going for the pit then?
Kody: At some point, possibly. May as well *laughs*
Joey: You'd do well to, it hasn't seen much action lately *laughs* Good luck.

*cut to arena*

ROBOTEERS, STAND BY

Booth 1, left hand side: Jason Marston, Shane Swan
Booth 2, right hand side: Kody Kunz

3
2
1
ACTIVATE

The call to arms dies away and it's the box that gets off the mark first, Shadow Zone Forever lurching forward off the starting square and driving purposely towards the more...scorpion looking Thor, which also comes forward to meet it after a short delay. Kody's started the fight with his machine pointing backwards, hoping to get the flipper in and underneath the front scoop of his foe, and as they come to meet each other in the centre of the arena...
FLIP! Kody's strategy bears fruit, as Thor is flicked up into the air, the hammer flicking over and swivelling Jason Marston's machine around on its rear end (anyone who can successfully visualise that will recieve a handsome prize) before Thor crashes over onto its side! Shadow Zone follows through, as the flipper comes down and makes contact with the base of Thor, rolling it over the hammer shaft and pushing it up against the wall with the power of the two nine horsepower motors. Thor's hammer retracts, though, raising it briefly up in the air as the lower end remains pinned against the wall by Shadow Zone, before being fired again and wrenching the black machine free, jumping it up and over the side of Shadow Zone's still not yet retracted flipper and onto the wall at a rakish angle, before getting traction on the left hand wheel against the railing...reversing off the barrier, down into the arena, but with the hammerhead still stuck on the fence! Jason tosses his head forwards in disbelief, while Shane operates the hammer again, retracting it, and finally allowing Thor to reverse away from the wall and away from the approaching Shadow Zone, which is reversing towards them at a rate of knots.
Thor stops, before switching into forwards as the two Magmotors power it up to meet the advancing Shadow Zone...and Shane gets in a preemptive strike with the hammer, bringing it over and forcing Kody to fire the flipper upwards before the two collide! The weapons meet, and while a percussive thump from metal on metal resounds through the arena, no immediate damage is obvious as the axe shaft meets the titanium flipper plate. Both robots are stopped in their tracks though, and Thor's hammer flicks back into position after a moment...only to fire again, as the flipper retracts, and this time the head meets the plate and an ugly scar can be seen on Shadow Zone's beautiful paintwork! Kody winces slightly, and responds by pouring on the amps and reversing Shadow Zone up by the pit, brushing Thor and its hammer away to one side.
Thor's hammer retracts again, the machine turning towards Shadow Zone as it changes tack, driving front end first away from the CPZ and bearing down on its foe. Once more, Jason reacts quickly by beginning to move his machine forward, but Kody's head start proves too much as Thor barely gets moving before the scoop of Shadow Zone ploughs underneath the front end of Thor, the hammer flicking over but only reaching the very end of its stroke as it impacts the top of Shadow Zone, the result being little more than a tap, and Kody powers on, getting further underneath Thor and pushing it faster and faster towards the bottom end of the arena...Thor's hammer retracts, to little avail, as its and Shadow Zone's journey ends with a bump at the lower end of the arena, at the edge of the lower patrol zone, before Shadow Zone applies power to one side to twist the hammerbot past the corner and into the danger area!
Sir Killalot is the first to be alerted, as Matilda drives out and around to get at Thor, which edges forward but finds itself stopped by the lance of the house robot. The hammer flicks over, Jason holding his controls above his head to try and steer free, but having little luck as Killalot's tracks and Thor's wheels spin and cancel one another out...Matilda reverses in now, as Shadow Zone backs away from pinning in its opponent, and the hammer flicks back, Thor getting some movement against Killalot, but the chainsaw of Matilda is brought down and sweeps across, to etch a long, painful scratch on the surface of the Hardox shell! Thor's hammer fires again, as Shadow Zone looks on (Kody by now having restored his machine's reverse orientation) to see the lance of Killalot give a little...the shaft of the axe bats the chainsaw out of the way to a brief flurry of sparks, and a gap opens for Thor to make its escape good, powering through and out of the corner!
Jason swings the back end of his machine around as Shane retracts the hammer, while Kody has seen the situation and is reversing his robot in, turning it to get the blades lined up with the front of Thor...which comes forward a bit, out to meet the advancing rammer, and the hammer flicks over again...Kody, true to form, fires the flipper to stop the hammer's descent, but times it just wrong to catch the shaft and the hammer head slams into the top rear edge of the flipper, noticably bending the 5mm titanium panel downwards over the ram! Up behind the polycarbonate screening, Kody's expression suddenly changes to one of concern, as he mouths a word that should not really be said on prime time television, but he keeps his fingers firmly down on the controls as Shadow Zone's sloped rear end catches the front scoop of Thor, edging beneath it as the flipper and hammer are forced apart, and pushing forward...there is resistance from the two four horsepower drive motors of Thor, but Shadow Zone slowly edges its foe further to the right...further to the right...into the corner of the arena, as the angle grinder closest to the corner briefly spits some sparks across the arena floor before stopping.
Almost as soon as the two robots hit the wall though, the balance seems to change, as much tyre squealing is heard around the arena that was not there before...and it's Thor that is pushing back, retracting the hammer and slowly but surely edging Shadow Zone back across the front of the patrol zone! Kody, perhaps sensing that another hammering is coming up, switches his machine into forwards and drives up towards the flame pit, dragging the flipper off the top of Thor - revealing the extent of the bending, a definite kink can be made out in the top panel and the front edge no longer contacts the floor cleanly. Jason pursues his foe, but the robot appears to be moving slower than it did - indeed, as Shadow Zone turns around to bring the scoop to face Thor, both machines appear to be suffering the onset of fatigue.
The timing of this is almost too convenient, as the battle enters the final ten seconds according to the clock above the presenter's gantry. Shadow Zone pulls all the speed it can muster out as it comes in on another attack, scoop first this time...Kody doesn't appear to want to risk his machine grounding itself as happened in the Gauntlet and against MORD2. Thor turns, readying itself for the approaching Shadow Zone, and as the rammer crashes into the scorpion once more, the hammer of Thor flicks over the top of the machine...in what is certainly the last act of the match, as both machines slowly travel towards the southern end of the arena, it impacts on the now rather battered 5mm titanium flipper plate and removes another few chips from the bluish green paintwork!

CEASE

Shadow Zone immediately brakes, as Kody removes the transmitter from around his neck, allowing a last little push back by Thor before Jason eases off the control sticks as well. The match will have to be decided by the judges...

Damage: Both robots took cosmetic damage, Thor from the house robots and arena grinders and Shadow Zone from Thor's hammer, but Shadow Zone later had its flipper bent up badly by Thor: Thor 4 (x4 = 16) Shadow Zone 1 (x4 = 4)
Aggression: Thor was largely defensive, although it made good use of the hammer. Shadow Zone was more aggressive from the start and dominated nearly all the pursuing and pushing battles: Thor 1 (x3 = 3) Shadow Zone 4 (x3 = 12)
Control: Shadow Zone controlled most of the match, it was eased back a bit towards the end though by Thor: Thor 1 (x2 = 2) Shadow Zone 4 (x2 = 8 )
Style: Very little style shown, Shadow Zone's ramming into an airborne Thor and Thor's self righting and hammering being the only real moments: Thor 3, Shadow Zone 2

Thor: 24 points
Shadow Zone Forever: 26 points

By a margin of two points, SHADOW ZONE FOREVER GOES THROUGH TO THE SERIES SEMI FINALS!

Coming up this geological time period
Heat C - Football
Alpha Bolt
Harraz
Monsoon Season
Venus Fly Trap
Blue Hurricane
Boxx

Hope you enjoyed that, sorry for the lack of end interviews (it'd been delayed enough with exam revision and other messing around, so I decided to forgo them for the initial release). Comments, predictions and route choices for the next heat please

[kodster]

Wow! That felt more like a Grand Final than a Heat Final! Read more like one, too! Good fight, Shane, and superb writing, Joey!

I really should get C&B4 going faster...

[team_orr]

tactics hmm... tactics

i will try and wait until the ball is available and in a sensible place (no point trying 2 get it if its out the arena now...) and then try and push it (boxx rush it lol ) towards the goal, perhaps try and dummy the goal keeper and/or any defenders...hopefully score!

jack

[steven_mcg]

Oops, really should get some tactics in here.

Venus Fly Trap will take the left-hand route due to being nice and flat. I've got a decent top speed so if I get my timing right, I should be able nip past the Sentinal with little fuss. Tacking Killalot, however, will be a tougher task. Just try to slip past him or, if in a jam, get the plate underneath and see if I can either damage his tracks or topple him over (most unlikely).

Awesome stuff thus far, Joey. Can't wait for the next update.

[samuel3764]

Previously mentioned, take the middle route.