Chapter 4:  “I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Partner!” (written by Michael Keens/ Exodus)  

The bumpy truck ride finally ended, as it pulled into the gas station at Kallen 
City.  
“Ouch...  That was uncomfortable, do you think he bumped the truck so much on 
purpose?” Nate moaned.  
“Prrrbbbyy.” said Leon, snacking on a candy bar, he was awfully prepared for a 
long journey, and Nate could probably live off the large bag of equipment along 
with Leon.  
“Save it.  I’d rather have a few bumps an’ bruises than lose my body.” grumbled 
Kaiser.  
“But you and I are made of metal, Kaiser, we do not bruise as humans do.” stated 
Rapid.  
“... Oh yeah! Your loss Meatbags!” laughed Kaiser.  
“I’ve kept my promise, we’re in Kallen City, Now Get Out.” grumbled the trucker.  
Kaiser leapt out first, and placed his large sword into a set of clips on his 
back, which retracted back into his torso when not in use.  
“Why did Kaiser have his sword out?” questioned Nate.  
“I don’t know, maybe its cos-  Ai Yaaah!” yelled Leon, noticing a very insulting 
message carved into one of the walls of the truck, signed at the bottom with 
Kaiser’s name.  
“What’s goin’ on back there?” questioned the trucker.  
“Um, nothing.” called Leon, moving a few heavy crates to cover the marking, at 
least until the trucker was in the next town.  
“Aw man, c’mon Kid, leave the message there.  He deserves it for bumpin’ us so 
much.”  
“KAISER!” shouted Leon.  
“Heh.” chuckled Kaiser, before offering a hand to Rapid to help her step off the 
truck.  
“Cool huh?” he winked to her, referring to his work.  
“I do not see what is clever about defacing property.” said Rapid with lightly 
frowning eyes.  
“Oh, sensible gal, are ya? Well don’t worry, I bet there’s tons o’ places in 
this town, we’ll just ditch the humans an’ then go out ta party!” proposed 
Kaiser.  
“I must reject your offer.  My place is with Master Nate.” Rapid replied.  
“You’re no fun, I’m outta here.” moaned Kaiser, turning to depart.  
“Kaiser, do not leave, I have something to say to you.” called Rapid 
unexpectedly.  
“Yeah what?” he said, turning to the side to face her.  
“I do not reject your offer of friendship, but it is my mission to protect 
Master Nate, do you not share that interest in your GenoMaster?”  
“Friendship?! Do I look like a friendly kinda guy? Besides, that jerk can 
protect himself! See ya!”  
He then stormed off in search for battle, again.  
“Not again.” moaned Leon, pulling his huge pack off the truck, which departed 
soon after.  

Later on, in the local Robot Planet shop, the group took a real rest, the one in 
the truck hadn’t exactly counted.  
“Hello.” said a familiar face of the store clerk, “How am I to be helping you?”  
“Mr Mart? Since when did you get a job in Kallen City and... change your skin 
colour?” questioned Leon.  
“Am I to be knowing you?” questioned Mart, who looked Indian in origin and wore 
a turban on his head.  
“I think this is a different Mart, Leon.” suggested Nate, “This must be the 
Device Town Mart’s distant relative or something.”  
“Ah, you know my second cousin, for that I’ll give you a third off any non 
GenoGear products.”  
“Cool, let’s stock up on food and supplies, Nate.” grinned Leon...  

The three then walked into town, eager to find the local tournaments, in order 
to begin their trip up the rankings, in order to be noticed for future more 
challenging tournaments.  

“I’d like to enter Kaiser for the solo tournament.” smiled Leon as he stared at 
the young attractive female secretary.  
“Um, okay Sir, if I could just see your GenoGear...” she smiled pleasantly.  
“You want to... see him?...” asked Leon nervously.  
“Of course, I’d like to calculate its level in order to see if its eligible for 
this sort of contest.” the woman explained.  
“That could be a problem, he’s around here somewhere, I’m just not sure where 
exactly.”  
“Do you have your GenoComm?”  
“Oh, yeah, right.” hesitated Leon, handing it over, he’d forgotten that it was 
linked to Kaiser’s M Chip, and therefore, played a part in recording his stats 
and records.  
“Hmmm, hmmm, oh, I’m sorry, but your GenoGear cannot enter this tournament.” 
apologised the young lady.  
“But, he has to be, I’ll go look for him, then you’ll-”  
“Its nothing like that.” smiled the lady, “The tournament is simply not worth 
your GenoGear’s time, the competition isn’t close to its level.”  
“It isn’t? But I’ve only been at this for close to a week.”  
“A little too much I’d say.  But perhaps you’ll have more luck at the tag team 
booth.”  
“Tag team...  Yeah, Kaiser’ll... need a partner.  Nate? Nate!”  
Leon barely caught a glimpse of Nate departing through one of the single 
tournament paths.  
“Guess I’ll... go look for Kaiser then...”  

“Master Nate, do you truly believe that I, a GenoGear with so little experience 
can be titled as the victor in four consecutive battles?...” asked Rapid in one 
of the preparation rooms.  
“Yes, why do you sound so surprised?...” smiled Nate.  
“Because there is only 25% of a chance that we could-”  
“Rapid, I’m not into stats and figures, I’m into your skilful abilities, my 
knowledge, and a little faith and luck.  If we’re going to succeed in our quest, 
we have to get somewhere in these tournaments.”  
“So that I may become skilful enough to battle those that abducted your 
grandfather, or so that you have an valid excuse to travel the world in order to 
locate him?” listed Rapid.  
“Not just those things, I’d... like to be a great GenoMaster, to succeed in 
something I’ve previously admired for years.  These battles aren’t about 
protecting me, they’re about doing your best to succeed, and testing your 
limits.  You understand?” revealed Nate.  
“I do...  Let us see how far I can progress in this combat exercise and observe 
if I am capable of succeeding...” nodded Rapid.  
“Rapid, we talked about this unnecessary phrasing...” said Nate calmly with 
folded arms.  
“Let us... battle...” Rapid rephrased.  

Kaiser was feeling angry, no one was willing to battle outside the Battle Cubes, 
and the only ones available to the town, were in use.  
A huge tent covered them all, restricting them to tournament registered 
GenoGears only, how dare they not let him in, just because he didn’t have a 
GenoMaster.  
Kaiser wondered around the audience seats, having snuck in without buying a 
ticket.  
“Kaiser! There you are, you came back.” Leon called happily.  
“Back?! You’re the last person I wanted to see!” Kaiser shouted.  
“But I waited in line to get you registered.” moaned Leon.  
“Buddy! You’re the greatest.  So, when am I battling?” smiled Kaiser, suddenly 
changing his tune.  
“You’re... Not.  Apparently this tournament is below you.” sighed Leon.  
“WHAT?!”  
“You’ve been running off and taking apart so many opponents, that you’re already 
eligible for the next level of tournaments.  There’s only one tournament that 
you might be allowed into, except you’ve got to have a partner.” Leon explained.  
“Partner?! I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Partner! Why do you think I refuse to hang 
around with you?!” complained Kaiser.  
“I don’t make the rules Kaiser, besides, it’d be 2 on 2, and provided you worked 
with Rapid, you’d get a fair amount of fights.” suggested Leon.  
“You mean She’s goin’ ta battle... With me?! The perfect date...  That oughta 
get her outta her shell, I mean, lighten her up.” grinned Kaiser strangely.  
“That’s a good idea, except I haven’t asked Nate, and Rapid’s battling in the 
single tourney’, so you may as well take a seat and see her in action.”  
“Alright, but you better get me registered straight afterwards.”  
“This registration thing could be just what I need to secure my partnership with 
Kaiser...” thought Leon hopefully.  
“I guess there are advantages to keeping humans around, but once I’m registered, 
he can forget about pulling me on a leash.” schemed Kaiser...  

Soon enough, Nate was up, but the arena was different than usual.  
In local championships, plus certain others, were a set of fields with different 
factors, in order to help or hinder the battlers depending on how they used it.  
Rapid didn’t have any specific weaknesses to prey upon, but it wouldn’t stop the 
opponent from gaining the upper hand if the field suited its specialty.  
The first set of fields had been randomised, and Nate was fighting in the Dark 
Field against someone called Blayne, a guy with spiky flame coloured hair and 
bright clothing, with his GenoGear, Beacom, a short silver, orange and yellow 
GenoGear with four long wings and a large bulb in its behind.  
Rapid stood ready to fight, but neither she nor Nate could see the opposition.  
“Looks like you’re going to have to sense this out, you capable of that?” called 
Nate through his GenoComm communicator, which was shaped like a communication 
headset with a small microphone positioned next to Nate’s mouth.  
“I believe I am.” answered Rapid.  
“Battle Start.” said a female computer voice.  
“Hah!” laughed the enemy GenoGear, “You’re dust, me and my GenoMaster come here 
all the time, and 50% of the time, we get this field, the one I can’t be beaten 
on!”  
“Explain.”  
“Cos I’m fast and I can see my way through darkness!”  
A light glowed from behind Rapid before the firefly-type GenoGear was in sight, 
shooting past her and dealing a blow of sparkling electricity.  
“There is an 86% chance that he is using the Thunder Claws which could defeat me 
with a few more blows.  Master Nate, please advise me.” calculated Rapid.  
“Try and listen out for its wings, it might know where you are, but I don’t 
think it knows of your capabilities.” Nate called back.  
“Yes Master Nate.”  
With that she started to fire wildly at the buzzing, but the opponent was too 
fast, and came down on her from above.  
“Try again!” sneered the opponent, whacking her hard with its punches and 
shocking her.  
“Rapid.  Don’t fire anymore, just wait it out until he attacks, and use your 
secondary weapon.” called Nate.  
“Yes.”  
“Hah!” screamed the bug, swooping down again, but Rapid had kept her audio 
sensors (an ear) on it, and her gem started to glow before releasing a quick 
Beam Cannon blast to spin the bug uncontrollably.  
“Finish it off!” shouted Nate happily.  
The bulb on the opponent’s behind had been shattered, and its light now shined 
brightly, unable to switch off, before it could fly away, Rapid ran around it, 
constantly shooting with both guns until the opponent yelled out and collapsed.  
“And Beacom is down! Nate and Rapid go through to the next round!” called a 
commentator.  

“You see how they work together Kaiser? Why can’t you and I work like that?” 
asked Leon.  
“Probably cos you never have a decent strategy.” grumbled Kaiser.  
“I do too, you just never listen to them.” Leon complained.  
“Whatever...  Rapid, Babe, I’m proud o’ you, you whooped his butt, literally.” 
Kaiser spoke pleasantly while staring at the purple GenoGear he admired.  

The next rounds were equally as rewarding, against Pengine, an Ice Class 
penguin-type GenoGear, he was short and mostly blue with yellow eyes, beak, feet 
and rings around his two gun arms, he had silver cheeks with metal plating on 
his belly, Rapid’s gun blasts weren’t quite stopping the opponent, when it slid 
across the Ice Field’s surface, its remaining armour was very effective, Rapid 
got caught between the penguin, and the arena forcefield, causing some damage.  
“You’re trapped between a rock and a hard place!” laughed Pengine, who belonged 
to a young opponent with warm furry clothing and red hair, taking full advantage 
of the field, it then followed up with a Snow Bomb attack, using a snowball to 
hit Rapid, that hid a bomb inside.  
She was blasted upwards, flipped and landed in the centre of the field, she 
tried to get up quickly, but slipped, and the opponent tackled her lightly.  
“Master Nate, this field is too difficult to stand on with my leg parts...” 
reported Rapid, “Pengine can get around on his stomach, but I do not think I 
could use my weapons without slipping.”  
“Wait a minute, maybe you don’t have to get up.” pondered Nate.  
“Banzai!!!” shouted the penguin, flopping to the floor and sliding very fast.  
“Rapid! Shoot the ice in front of him! Form a ramp!” shouted Nate.  
From the floor, Rapid started shooting at the ice, creating some holes but 
pushing fragments into a pile.  
“What the?!” shouted Pengine’s GenoMaster, Benji, “Don’t touch that hill!”  
Too late, Pengine hit the pile and flew into the air, his stomach in full view 
now.  
“Beam Cannon!” shouted Nate, and the large laser shot out of Rapid’s forehead 
and blasted the chest plate of the opponent.  
“They beat my strategy...” groaned Benji, “Pengine’s stomach is the weakest 
aspect of his defense that’s why I made him slide around on it and much as 
possible.”  
“Arrrgghh!!!” yelled Pengine, falling fast and plunging through the ice and into 
the cold water below, floating up moments later defeated.  

“Uggghh...” groaned Rapid during the third match in a field full of junk heaps 
and piles scattered around, her opponent was a guy with long white spiky hair 
and an open magenta jacket and jeans, he owned a Blade Class with a rare item, a 
yo-yo with several blades on the ball, he had range, and he could deflect her 
bullets, Rapid was ordered not to use her Beam Cannon without a clear shot at 
her opponent, it drained her a little of her energy, and using too much of it 
would leave Rapid weak.  
“Rapid, wanna try something unpredictable and stupid?” suggested Nate.  
“It would not be wise... but I trust you...” Rapid answered.  
“Come out, come out Chickie Pie, I’ve got a surprise for you...” called the 
opponent Cord in a sinister way.  
The red, white and purple punk-like GenoGear unleashed its blade and tore apart 
a block of junk, luckily, Rapid wasn’t there, but the opponent could see the 
silhouette of her head at the side.  
“Gotcha Cutie.”  
The yo-yo outstretched and the powerful blade sliced off a piece of metal... 
from another heap of junk.  
“... What?!...”  
“No.” smiled Rapid, “I have ’Got You, Cutie’.” and then she yanked the opponent 
forward by tugging hard on the wire of the yo-yo.  
“Hang on a sec, Baby!” wailed the opponent.  
“... I shall.” she replied, and let go after a second, the momentum of the tug 
throwing the opponent into the forcefield hard and weakening it, he slid down 
the wall, upside down.  
“I have got a surprise for you too.” Rapid said, referring to the opponent’s 
earlier phrase.  
The two handguns were drawn and fired several times, without his weapon, Cord 
was helpless, and blasted by every shot.  
“Duuuude...” he groaned, landing first on his head before his whole body 
collapsed to the floor.  

“Whoa.” noted Kaiser, “Remind me not to tick that gal off again!”  

“And that ends the semi finals.  And now for the final match, the battle that is 
to decide which of the talented GenoMasters and GenoGear, will be taking home 
some brand new parts.”  
Now on display was a silver and white arm part with a set of fighting claws with 
a real sharp edge attached, and a huge green bazooka arm that probably wouldn’t 
fit Rapid.  
“Whoa.” said Nate, “I didn’t realise we were playing for such a prize.  We’ve 
just got to win those claws.”  
“Do you honestly think I could wield such a weapon?” questioned Rapid curiously.  
“Certainly.”  
“And now ladies and gentlemen, the final match, between our city’s reigning 
champion Jason Cain and Crunch, and newcomer Nate Maxwell and Rapid.  Prepare 
for battle.”  
“Crunch?...  Doesn’t sound too bad by the name alone.  I trust you to do a good 
job Rapid.”  
“Actually Master Nate, there is an 80% chance that-”  
“A little optimism never hurt, Rapid.”  
As Rapid stepped out, her opponent was in full view now, and as bad as Nate had 
actually thought, the opponent was a hefty and powerful-looking reptilian 
GenoGear who stood like a person, with a huge frame coloured mostly turquoise, a 
spiked gold gauntlet on its right fist, a water-based gun on the left, a long 
snout with razor sharp teeth, and to finish it off, a large metallic tail.  
“Begin!”  
Rapid lifted up her guns, only to be immediately slapped by the huge tail of her 
opponent.  
“This small fry made it all the way to the finals? You’re no more than a 
mouthful!” grinned Crunch with a low but loud voice and an American accent, 
before diving forward and aiming to clamp down on Rapid with his teeth, but 
since the final match was in a plain arena, she didn’t have any trouble, apart 
from the opponent itself.  
Rapid rolled to the side and opened fire with her guns, generally aiming at its 
teeth.  
“Rapid, vary your shots, and Keep Away From That GenoGear!” advised Nate.  
“It will be difficult, but possible.”  
“You’re in for a sticky situation, Darlin’!” shouted the opponent, spraying a 
liquid on Rapid, which hardened around her top section.  
“No...  Goo Slap...” moaned Nate, “If Rapid tries to blast it lose, she’ll 
damage her body, but if we wait around, she’s ‘gator food.”  
“C’mon ‘ere!” screamed the opponent, reeling her in, Rapid tried to back away, 
but it seemed the opponent was too strong for her to successfully do that.  
“Time to live up to mah name.” smiled the crocodile, opening its large jaws and 
revealing all its teeth, “CRUNCH TIME!”  

To be continued...  

Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Back to the GenoStories
Back to the Dream Archive