Carmine in the Scavenger Tournament II

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After a few hours on his back, Carmine managed to push himself to his feet. He had some internal repair systems, but they could only do so much. Their primary function was rerouting power from nonessential functions to keep him running and moving around. Any major repairs would take much longer to complete, and while his limiter override in the battle with Oda hadn't brought him near permanent shutdown, a few wires had definitely been stripped, and one of his cooling fans was either tangled, glitching, or completely blown out. His tracker was already alerting him of a new opponent, but he wasn't about to enter a fight without finding out about that cooling fan and replacing those wires.

He gave Oda, who was getting up and heading off to lick his own wounds, a wave as he got onto the Cyclone and rode off in search of a scrapyard or electronics store - either would do, but the scrapyard would be cheaper - that is to say, the scrapyard wouldn't miss a few missing pieces of metal and wire.

It didn't take long to find a fairly sizeable junk pile and sneak in from above on the Cyclone. It was even quicker finding an old junked car that he was certain would provide the proper salvage. He took off his shirt and opened himself up, to find that he definitely needed that new cooling fan. One of the car's engine fans was in pretty good shape, so he set himself to extricating it from the engine block.

Once he had the new fan and a handful of replacement wires, he set about his work. However, no sooner than he had fixed the wires did his tournament tracker start going bonkers.

"Oh, not now..."

He checked the tracker and lo and behold, his opponent was hot on his trail. He wasn't sure he'd have enough time to replace that fan before his opponent arrived, but he knew that he could get the broken one out - he'd be down a fan, but leaving in a broken one could cause some serious trouble. So he got to it, removing it quickly, just in time to barely hear and barely dodge a hail of energy balls raining from the sky.

Once the dust cleared, he looked across the scrapyard to see another youth, probably no older than Oda had been, with his arms folded looking rather mean. He was dressed more casually, with jeans and a black tee shirt, but it was a couple of distinct features that concerned Carmine. The boy's hair was wild and sharp, an untamed black mass of acute angles. Paired with the whipping monkey's tail that sprouted from the boy's spine, Carmine knew he was in for an intense time of it.

[Deleted]

No words were exchanged. Carmine crammed his new fan into a pocket and stood up, his chest still opened. The boy smirked and launched another hail of energy, which Carmine dodged a bit more expertly than the first. Carmine grabbed a hubcab and flung it like a frisbee in a desperate attempt to distract his opponent.

It was vaporized midair by a blast of ki.

Carmine rushed at the kid, one hand raised in a fist, the other working inside himself to prepare wire connections and mounting screws for his new fan. He took a swing that was easily blocked, and blocked an incoming kick. The two exchanged simple martial blows for several moments, Carmine fighting one-handed before taking a solid kick to the face and being sent soaring back to where he'd been standing earlier. He crashed into the car he'd salvaged from hard. His eyes opened to the bright yellow light of a ki barrage coming his way.

The ki barrage turned the scrap heap into a pile of smoking wreckage. The young half saiyan smirked again, and after a few moment launched another barrage, and another. All the while, Carmine sat in a fetal position, trapped under the car that had been meant to fix him. Somehow the car had taken the brunt of the attack, leaving Carmine damaged, but manageably so. Quite fortunately, both of his arms were still free. He could hear the second wave of energy slamming into the scrap around him, so he set to work quickly, attaching the wires of his new fan and mounting it as solidly as his situation allowed.

It was a jury rig at best, and by the time he was finished, his opponent had sent another pair of barrages at what he was sure could have become his molten slag coffin. He shut his chest and grit his teeth. He waited for the impacts to stop, and then waited a moment more. He did his best to position himself legs up, back down, and pulled his legs in as close as he could. He rolled in place, and once his feet were beneath him he kicked out, placing a half a ton of force beneath him.

He rocketed upwards through the scrap and slag, damaging his outer chassis somewhat extensively. High above the battlefield, he couldn't see the half-saiyan's face, but he hoped it was surprised and frightened. He sent a signal to the Cyclone, and the bike quickly got under him so that he wouldnt fall to his doom. Standing on the bike, arms folded, he lowered himself back to the ground to look at his opponent.

"This is where you fall down."

[Deleted]

Another ki barrage, but Carmine avoided it easily. Everything felt easier now, his systems less restricted despite the damage he'd sustained. The wonders a complete cooling system could do for a machine! He quickly closed the gap between himself and his opponent.

Once he was within a car's length, the kid changed tactics, instead forming his right hand into a finger gun. A bright energy gathered around his finger tips and he opened his mouth to name his attack. Carmine didn't give him a chance. He leapt up with a "Toh!" and forward flipped, driving his heel into the kid's mouth.

"DESPERATE TYPHOON KICK!"

An explosion of heat and sound and fury, and the half-saiyan was launched across the battlefield unconscious, his attack sent wildly astray. As the dust cleared, Carmine stood, looking like the Terminator at the end of a firefight. He walked slowly and heavy-footed to his fallen opponent as his tracker beeped and his repair systems set to work on his damages. Luckily his face wasn't terribly damaged, looking like he was just a burned human being. He could hide his true nature without hiding himself for the coming weeks.

He checked the half-saiyan's pulse, and it was strong despite the direct hit to the face. Carmine nodded and checked his tracker. Another opponent had been identified, this time further away. The tournament was coming to a close as more and more fighters were eliminated. He was going to be up against more opponents like Oda and this kid as each day went on. The tracker also indicated that the day's fighting hours had come to a close. Nights were off-limits to battles to allow fighters proper rest and recovery time. He smiled as he mounted the Cyclone and rode off in search of a place to spend the coming night.

[Deleted]

For the sake of ease, I'll take whatever pl is awarded.

[Gray Callahan]

1200 PL awarded.