"Everyone! Please welcome our contestants for the next match! Give it up for Bob The Unbuilder and Teddy!!"
Another round of cheers rang out and the space beside us had been occupied by two new groups of people.
For some reason, both of these groups were couples though one was a heterosexual one while the other was a lesbian one.
The only reason why I even knew they were couples was because I saw them holding hands and sharing a kiss before they came over and sat beside us.
Why are there so many couples here? Is this like a popular dating spot or something?
Putting that aside, the battle robot both Ries and I had bet on slowly lumbered into view from the other side of the ring.
Unlike the previous two that closely resembled humans in shape, this one was built with a head of a bull complete with metallic bull horns and instead of fists, it had a giant spiked mace as its right hand and a chainsaw in the other.
When Teddy came into view, I realised that it was literally a robotic, giant bear with spikes jutting out from its shoulders and back.
I frowned a little, "Are there restrictions as to what kind of bots could enter these fights?"
She nodded, "They have weight limitations for that. They divide them up into different categories and if the battlebot's weight passes the threshold, they will be classed in the other category. Only battlebots within the same category are allowed to challenge each other."
I then nodded at the weapons on Bob's arms, "And any restrictions on the equipment?"
"Oh, that would depend on the type of tournament. For this one, only melee weapons are allowed. And they are pretty loose on that rule where as long as the weapon is connected to the bot in some way, it would be considered a melee weapon."
"So even if it was a spiked ball attached to a chain?"
"Yep~"
"And bringing in an equipped weapon like a sword is also allowed?"
"Yep."
"What if they throw that sword?"
"Funnily enough, that isn't allowed."
Well, I guess it makes things interesting for the audience so why not, right?
Once again, the two robots stood on the stage with their Roboteers standing beside them while the emcee introduced the contestants.
I did not miss the fact that while the emcee brought up the past wins for Teddy to hype us up, they only briefly mentioned it for Bob and instead focused on the specs.
If I hadn't heard from the earlier guy about this robot constantly losing its past matches, I would be questioning that right now.
One interesting fact the emcee mentioned was that both bots would be manually controlled by their Roboteers.
The two Roboteers then exchanged some words and I realised that the Roboteer with Bob looked like he was in the late middle age range while Teddy had a young girl as its Roboteer.
Despite not being able to hear what the two of them were saying, I could tell that the young girl was mocking the older man.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The older man didn't seem that fazed by it and even reached out his hand to shake but the girl acted like she didn't see it and simply turned and left the ring.
To his credit, the man simply took his hand back, gave a pat on his battle robot before heading off the ring himself.
The guy beside me whispered to his partner, "I don't know why he wouldn't retire though… He's been on a losing streak since the fight with Lockgar The Destroyer…"
"Maybe he's just being stubborn?" His partner suggested.
"I don't know about that… Maybe he's just living in his own delusions?"
"Did we bet on him?"
"Oh, nah. We came too late for this match. Our bet is on the next match. So we can just enjoy the show."
Seems like this guy's status is quite well known huh… Did I make the wrong choice to bet on him?
Ehh… I guess it's fine… The money I used to bet on him isn't really my money anyway so I wouldn't feel that bad if it were to be lost.
Once the stage was prepared, the bell rang to signal the start of the fight.
Teddy immediately started charging towards its opponent, its eyes glowing an angry red.
Bob swung its right hand up before throwing it down, revealing that the spiked ball in its hand was in fact attached to a chain so the movement flung the heavy ball forward at the charging robot bear.
Teddy only slowed down just enough to swipe the ball away with its large paw, not even looking fazed by the attack before it continued to charge towards Bob.
While it was reeling in its chained mace, the chainsaw on its left hand started to rev and it raised it up to swing at Teddy when it got close.
The other robot showed surprising agility for its size as it deftly caught the wrist with one of its paws before it opened its mouth impossibly wide.
That was when I realised that the inside of its mouth was housing what looked like an industrial shredder and it spun up quickly right before the robot bit down on the arm.
There was a loud grating noise and Bob's arm with the chainsaw was bitten off.
Teddy quickly pulled back before Bob could slam its maced hand down on its head, narrowly missing it by mere inches and striking the ground with a loud boom instead.
The torn off limb was still in Teddy's mouth and it spat it out to the side.
Interestingly, the chainsaw was still revving despite being cut off from its body.
"What a start to the fight!! Teddy has already ripped off one of Bob's arms in the first few seconds of the fight! But what's this?! It seems like Bob hasn't given up yet! He's still going to fight!"
Sure enough, the bull headed robot did not look defeated and rose up to its full height once again to face against its opponent without even caring that it lost an arm.
Or maybe that's just because the robots don't have any facial animations which is what gave us that feeling.
Teddy started circling the one armed robot, as though mocking it while Bob turned to maintain eye contact with the bear robot.
Without warning, Teddy lunged at Bob again but this time Bob was ready and swung its arm right as the bear came within range.
The spiked ball caught the bear across the side of the head, knocking the entire robot towards the side and flinging it away from Bob.
Damn, that robot must have weighed at least one or two tonnes, so for it to be sent flying like that… That punch must have had a lot of force behind it.
Teddy managed to land on its feet and tried to turn back around to face Bob, only for Bob to swing its arm down and shoot out its spiked ball to fling it at the bear.
The bear robot only just managed to raise its arm to defend itself before the ball smashed into its paw, the impact emitting a loud crash sound that echoed throughout the arena.
Some of the metal plates on the paw flew off and when Bob reeled the mace back, it was revealed that while it did not cut off its limb, the front paw was now crushed and rendered useless.
Unperturbed, the bear robot lunged towards the bull, trying to catch it before it could completely reel its spiked ball back into its arm.
Seeing that, Bob quickly dove into a roll to avoid it but the ball was still not back in its arm when the bear lunged at it again.
It tried to roll away again but it wasn't fast enough this time and the bear managed to strike at its side with its metallic claws, ripping open a hold in its abdomen and sending the armour plates flying away to expose its internal machinery.
As though that wasn't enough, as Teddy was passing by Bob's side, the spikes on the bear robot's back suddenly elongated, piercing through the remaining arm and its leg before it retracted back to their original position.
There was a loud hiss coming from Bob before it stumbled and fell onto a knee, no doubt the earlier attack taking away its capability to stand up properly.
"Ahh… I told you, that guy wouldn't win…" Someone groaned behind us.
"It's not over yet!"
"Face it… That blow to the arm cut half its swinging power, it wouldn't be able to make Teddy fly like it did before… You only bet on him because you knew Bob had a new type of hydraulic to increase its arm swing power and that's gutted too."
"Fuck… I bet my three months of savings on him dude…"
"Tough luck man…"
Ah damn… Well, I guess you win some and you lose some?
At least this proves that not everything I bet on would win.