THE ENERGY GOBBLER
B.J. is a young boy with an over-active imagination. His tales of robots in the park drive his parents crazy. However one day everything changed - the day he met Gobbler X!!!
One day while playing with the "robots"" alone in the park B.J. heard an electronic beeping sound a little way off in the trees. It sounded just like one of his favourite video games "B.I.T.S.". "Beep beep ba ba beep" - he followed the sound until he was a good way into the woods. Just then there was a loud zapping sound "Zzzapp!!!" and he looked down to see that the leaves beneath his feet were frazzled. "Woah!" yelped B.J. and just then before his very eyes appeared a REAL LIFE ROBOT!!! The robot had a metallic human torso much like a muscular man, with the letter "G" right in the middle. Before B.J. had a chance to run the robot had grabbed him with his "man arms", and he flailed his legs desperately as he was lifted right off the ground. "Destination: Gobble Zone" said the robot in a robot voice as the LEDs flickered on the metal face below his "human" hair.
The robot's grip had become so tight that B.J. passed out and the next thing he knew he was strapped into a chair on a spaceship heading into space!!! As B.J. craned his neck to look around he could see all kinds of flashing panels and the robot man at the controls. To one side there were some other chairs with several muscley guys strapped in. He recognized one of them as Tommy's dad the fireman. Tommy's dad's muscley upper body was fully revealed and it was sweaty and greasy and covered in robot handprints. "He must have really put up a fight," thought B.J. He tried to call out to Tommy's dad but was interrupted by the robot man. "It is no use. We have gobbled his energy," he said in his robot voice. B.J. didn't really understand but he felt scared so kept quiet.
B.J. drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep full of dreams of robot men sweating, pumping and "gobbling" energy. When he finally awoke he was no longer on the space ship but in some kind of futuristic throne room. Tommy's dad and the other guys were beside him. Though they were no longer bound there was a robot guard behind each of them, all even more muscley than his captor from the park. The throne was empty but just then there was an electronic sounding fanfare.
"Buh buh buh beep buh beep! Arise for Gobbler X!!!" They all looked to the right and were amazed to see a huge green monster in a red robe and crown making his way regally into the throne room across some kind of "energy causeway". Once seated on the throne the "king" turned to them and boomed in a guttural alien voice "I am Gobbler X!!! And you are all my guests here on Gobblar!" "What have you done to us?!" screamed Tommy's dad. "I have gobbled all your energy, but don't worry I will give you some back. You see you have an important role to play. All will be revealed in good time," replied Gobbler X.
After an uneasy night in some space age cell chambers, B.J. and the other muscley men did indeed find that some of their energy had been restored to them when they awoke the next morning. Out of nowhere appeared trays of space food, which they eagerly gobbled even though it was not that appetizing. No sooner had they finished eating than a troop of muscle robots came to the cells and escorted them to another chamber.
The chamber was overlooking a giant arena and suddenly Gobbler X appeared on a hover-plinth in the centre of the arena and his gargling voice rang out. "Now all shall be revealed!" he boomed. "I have been slowly gathering some of the most muscular men on your planet for many years now. You see I gobble your Earth energy and use it to fuel muscle men of my own. I call them my Gobblarmy!!!" With this the king pointed at a portcullis at the edge of the arena that was slowly raised and in marched a phalanx of the muscley man robots similar to those that they had seen about the palace. However these gobblebots seemed even larger than the other guards and some had strange attachments instead of the standard muscley "human" arms. "What on Earth?!" yelled Tommy's dad, "You'll pay for this!"
"Ha ha ha!" boomed Gobbler X. "There is a reason why I gave you back a bit of that energy I gobbled. You see these Gobblebots are not just for display. Here on Gobblar we like nothing more than a bit of sport. That is why I built the Gobble Dome!!! You will all be pitted against my Gobblarmy - the Earth's most muscular men versus my very own Gobblebots!!!" They all looked at each other in shock and then suddenly the chamber they were in started to descend until they were under the "Gobble Dome". Over a loudspeaker in the chamber game the garbled voice of Gobbler X "You have a few hours before the games begin. I recommend that you save your strength for the first contest."
They all sat around in desperation and Tommy's dad paced the cell trying to come up with a plan. The few hours passed all too quickly and the first Earth combatant's name was called out over the intercom. It was one of the neighborhood policemen that B.J. had seen around. He was a really muscley guy but he looked afraid now. They all solemnly patted him on the back and swore that everything would be OK.
After a few minutes the wall in front of them was raised and they were looking out into the arena. They could see the policeman standing nervously in the centre waiting for his musclebot opponent to enter the ring. "Here we have Man-glor!" rang out the voice of the robo-umpire. A HUGE "Gobblebot" strode robotically into the arena. One of his arms was replaced by what looked like a harpoon gun. "Let the muscle bout begin!!!" screamed the umpire and the crowd of green monsters roared with excitement.
The cop fought bravely and was drenched in sweat having managed to deal a few good blows to Man-glor. But he soon discovered what the Gobblebot's special adapted arm was for - it was a net-launcher! Once ensnared by the robot's net, the policeman stood no chance. "No fair!" yelled BJ and they all averted their eyes as the final blow came. "Gobble him! Gobble him!" yelled the crowd. There was a zapping sound and when they could bear to turn around there was no trace of the cop and Man-glor was pumping his robo-fist in the air.
This continued for several rounds. Each earthman fought hard but they were no match for Gobbler X's Gobblarmy. There was a Gobblebot with 2 mini laser cannons mounted on his shoulders, one with a large metallic claw and even one with 2 heads and a laser whip! As they were drawing near to the end of the day's events the only people left in the chamber were B.J., Tommy's dad and one other man.
Just then Gobbler X himself stood up from his throne and bellowed, "To round off the afternoon's entertainment how about giving the earthmen chance? Let's have a bit of 3-on-1!" The crowed roared and with that the remaining 3 captives were led out of the cell and down into the arena. They were each handed a rudimentary weapon and thrust out into the Gobble Dome.
"But we can't make it too easy on them can we," laughed Gobbler X, "I introduce to you my finest creation - DOUBLE DECKA!!!" The three humans trembled as into the arena pounded the largest of the Gobblebots they had yet seen. They soon saw why he was called "Double Decka" too as he had not one but TWO human torsos stacked one on top the other. He had a chain of bullets stretched over his bulky frame and a different weapon in each of his 4 arms, ranging from a throwing axe to a flail. When they could bring themselves to look up at his face it was even more terrifying as his face was more like a robo-gorilla than a human, with a huge chomping metallic jaw and flashing red lights for eyes.
Before the umpire had even signaled for the fight to begin the third man charged right at Double Decka screaming with fear and rage. With a twisting pumping motion the monstrous Gobblebot sent the poor man flying into the sand. The crowd loved it. Tommy's dad took several paces back and pushed B.J. behind him. B.J. was racking his brains trying to think of a way to defeat this mighty musclemanrobot.
First Double Decka launched a few throwing axes. Tommy's dad ducked just in time but the axes turned in the air and returned to the robot's hands. Next he started on them with the flail, which they soon discovered was electrocuted! One of the blows caught the fireman across his cheek and he yelled out, blocking further blows with the flimsy shield he had been given. The champing mecha-gorilla jaw was inches away from Tommy's dad's face when just then the third guy leapt onto Double Decka's back causing him to spin around growling angrily.
Just then B.J. got an idea. "Follow me!" he shouted to Tommy's dad and they set off running around the perimeter of the Gobble Dome. Once Double Decka had dispensed of his assailant with his laser clamp he turned his attention to the other 2 who were busy running around the arena. The clumsy manrobot started to run after them growling.
"Why are we running?" panted Tommy's dad. "You'll see," replied B.J. when he could catch his breath. After a few laps the crowd were booing. B.J. glanced back over his shoulder and saw sparks starting to fly from the robot's muscley upper torso. "It's working!" he whooped. "What is?" replied Tommy's dad. "Don't worry, just keep going!" shouted B.J.
Soon Double Decka's robot gorilla jaw was open panting and sweat was dripping in torrents off all the vaguely human muscley components of his body. The sparks were flying even more ferociously and soon one of his arms burst into flame. The other arms soon followed and Double Decka let out a fearsome gargling robotic roar as he finally exploded! Just then there came explosions from all around them. It seemed that as Double Decka was the leader of the Gobblebots, he had triggered some kind of malfunction in the others leading to a huge chain reaction.
Pandemonium ensued and in the midst of confusion B.J. and Tommy's dad grabbed a hover-plinths off one of the flailing Gobblebots and made for the launchpad. Tommy's dad's training as a fireman had paid off and he somehow managed to pilot one of Gobblar's space ships. They were just in the nick of time. As their ship took off B.J. looked back to see explosions all over the Gobble Complex. When they had escaped from Gobblar's atmosphere they looked back to see that the whole planet was exploding!
"Looks like that's the last we'll hear of Gobbler X and his Gobblarmy!" laughed Tommy's dad, "And I don't think your parents will be complaining about your robot stories or video games anymore after this!" They both laughed until their sides nearly split as the Gobble ship sped towards Earth.
"The three humans trembled as into the arena pounded the largest of the Gobblebots they had yet seen."
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