Martin was searching the ruins of the city for any signs of Alan. He was starting to lose hope until he stumbled upon a large pile of rubble. As he approached, he could see Alan lying there, surrounded by broken glass.
"Alan, what happened here?" Martin asked urgently, kneeling down beside him.
Alan groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He uttered in a tone of great disappointment, "Oh, no! I've lost them both."
"Don't worry, we'll try again. Are you okay though?" Martin asked, checking the back of Alan's head. He could see that he was bleeding but Alan nodded in response.
Martin quickly reached into his bag and took out a bandage to wrap around Alan's head, but as he did, he noticed something strange. The wound had completely vanished. He was puzzled by this and started to check his own wounds from his encounter with the robot. To his surprise, they too had disappeared.
"What the hell?" Martin muttered to himself, staring at his healed wounds.
"The robot took both jewels from me," Alan said, interrupting Martin's thoughts. "We prepared a spot where this wouldn't happen, but it seemed the robots outsmarted us."
"Don't let this get to you Alan. We just weren't ready," Martin tried to console him.
But Alan couldn't shake off the feeling of disappointment. He kept looking down at the ground, dwelling on his failure.
Martin decided that they should leave the area and find a place to rest for the night. As they walked away from the rubble, they stumbled upon an abandoned building that seemed suitable for their needs. They entered and settled down for the night, exhausted from the events of the day.
…
The next day, Alan and Martin walked through the same area where they had encountered the group being attacked by the robot. They noticed the same group of people sitting together with dejected looks on their faces. As they approached, they could see that each person had injuries and bruises on their bodies.
"What? You actually managed to snatch one from those things?" Synthia exclaimed, surprised to see Alan and Martin back so soon after their own failed attempt.
"Urm… Two, actually." Martin said with a confident smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Well, what happened then?" Synthia asked, curious to know the outcome of their encounter.
Martin hesitated before answering, not wanting to hurt Alan's feelings. But before he could speak, Alan cut in.
"I lost them both. It was my fault," Alan said with a tone of regret. He was concerned about how the others would view him, but to his surprise, Synthia disagreed.
"Nope. Whatever you did, it couldn't be your fault. Wanna know what we found out?" Synthia said with a reassuring tone, looking at Martin for confirmation. Alan looked up with curiosity, eager to hear what they had discovered. Martin nodded in agreement.
"One of us tried hitting a robot. He had seen a screen pop out before his eyes, stating the current status of the robot. After that, we all tried fighting it. That's when things got clear for us. Here, it looked something like this," Synthia drew something on the dusty floor with her finger. It was a chart with the heading "Points - 98/99."
She explained that the points seemed to decrease every time they landed an attack on the robot. "The only problem is its ridiculous strength," Synthia said with exasperation. Alan saw the disappointment in their eyes and realized that they must have tried their best as well.
After Alan and Martin decided to part ways with Synthia and her group, Alan couldn't help but feel guilty for wallowing in his own failure when he heard about the struggles that Synthia and her team had been facing for days. He decided to gather up his courage and talk to her.
"Synthia, um...th-thanks for earlier," Alan stuttered, his face turning red.
Synthia looked at him calmly, her expression as serious as always. "Sure, but I meant it," she replied. "If we can't get those red jewels with our own strength, it's pointless. Besides, we shouldn't dwell on our mistakes. You leave that part to someone who can never forget the past."
Alan was taken aback by Synthia's sudden display of emotion. He saw a brief glimpse of sadness in her eyes, followed by a moment of happiness before her expression became neutral again. He realized that she was probably hiding her emotions for some reason.
"Yeah, you're right," Alan agreed, trying to shake off the awkwardness he felt. "Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind."
Synthia nodded, and the two of them went their separate ways. Alan felt a sense of admiration for Synthia's resilience and determination.
Martin looked at Alan and asked, "You like Synthia?"
"Yup, she's nice."
Martin leaned in closer. "She has hyperthymesia. Ever heard of that?"
Alan shook his head. "Nope. What is that?"
"It's like, she can't forget anything. She seems to remember all the events that occurred since she woke up in this stupid place."
Alan raised his eyebrows. "Well, I remember them all too."
Martin shook his head. "That's not it. She can recall everything, perfectly. That's why she always gets perfect marks for everything."
Alan looked at Martin skeptically. "But mathematics isn't about memorizing, it's-"
"Shut up!" Martin spoke loud enough to not hear what Alan said. "I don't want to hear that cursed name."
…
Alan and Martin scaled the side of the building, their hands gripping tightly onto the rough surface as they pulled themselves up. The abandoned part of the city they found themselves in was desolate and devoid of life, as if the people who once lived there had all disappeared overnight.
After what felt like an eternity of climbing, they finally made it to the top of the building. The wind picked up, sending a soothing breeze through the air that passed them by. It was an incredibly light day. As they stood there, taking in the view, they noticed a bright light emanating from the tower. The light was so bright that it reflected off of the bubble, illuminating and heating up everything inside it.
Alan turned to Martin, a sense of excitement in his voice. "This is the perfect spot to execute our plan," he said, grinning from ear to ear. Martin nodded in agreement, his eyes fixated on the tower in the distance.
"It's a surreal sight," Martin said, "but we need to focus on finding the robot."
They both knew that time was of the essence, so they quickly made their way across the rooftops, jumping from building to building. After what felt like an eternity, they finally spotted a robot in the distance. They had encountered these machines before and knew that they needed to be careful not to be seen by them. After all it wasn't just aether that these robots were attracted to.
Martin turned to Alan. "You remember the new plan, right?" he asked.
Alan nodded, a serious look on his face. "Yeah, you hit him first, then I hit him."
They exchanged a quick glance before nodding in unison, their faces displaying a sense of satisfaction at the simplicity and effectiveness of their plan.
Martin took a deep breath and jumped from the roof, not revealing his location until the very last moment. He formed aether around his hand and punched the robot, aiming for its head. But the robot had sensed Martin the moment he started using aether, and it dodged out of the way, though it wasn't able to avoid the punch completely. Martin hit the robot in the shoulder, causing it to stagger slightly.
As the robot moved to the right, it faced Martin, its sensors scanning the area for any other potential threats. Suddenly, it detected Alan coming towards it with an attack. Though the attack wasn't as powerful as the first one, it landed perfectly on the robot's back, causing it to pause for a moment
Alan's attack wasn't as powerful as Martin's first strike, but it was also much harder for the robot to detect due to its subtle nature.
Both Alan and Martin saw a screen pop up in front of their eyes. As expected, the robot's stats hadn't gone down even by one. Synthia had warned them about this, but the boys weren't discouraged. They knew they had to come up with a different tactic to take down the machine.
The robot expanded its aura, sensing everything around it. In response, Alan and Martin released their own auras as well. They knew that it was pointless to hide their auras now that they had been detected. This way, they could sense everything around them, even if they were attacked from behind.
As Alan and Martin released their auras, they could feel the energy building up between them. Suddenly, their auras collided, causing a powerful surge of energy that created a visible swirl of power in the air between them.
The energy was intense, crackling and popping like static electricity, and the swirling aura between them expanded outward in all directions. Their eyes locked in concentration and determination, signaling the start of the long-awaited rematch.