Not quite a big city, and not quite a small town, San Fransokyo had always been a mysterious mix of old and new. On foggy nights, the bright skyscraper¹ lights and the neon of the modern city softened², giving the old Victorian pagodas³ and forgotten alleyways of the past an inviting⁵ glow.

 

One such night, a young teenage boy named Hiro Hamada was making his way down an old brick alley⁴. He was looking for a place where grown men came to fight.

 

The boy felt a little nervous when he finally approached a rowdy crowd. Men were jammed around a fighting ring, chanting, "Ya-ma! Ya-ma!"

 

Mr. Yama, a large, sumo-sized man, strutted⁶ into the ring and held up his huge hands in victory. It had been a fight "to the death," and Mr. Yama's tricked-out eighteen-inch robot—which had claws for one hand and a spinning saw wheel for the other—had just decapitated the competition. The remains⁷ of the defeated robot were unceremoniously tossed onto a pile of other dismembered opponents.

 

"Who's next?" Mr. Yama snarled⁸, scanning the crowd. The spectators exchanged money and prepared to place their bets. "Who has the guts⁹ to step into the ring with Little Yama?" The crowd stared at the big man's fierce robot and shrank away. Some even hid their bots behind their backs.

 

Then a voice said, "Can I try?" The crowd parted and everyone stared at Hiro.

 

Yama's eyes narrowed. "What's your name, little boy?"

 

"It's Hiro. Hiro Hamada."

 

The four-hundred pound man folded his thick arms over his chest. "Go home, Zero. Bot-fighting isn't for little boys with toy robots. You have to pay to play."

 

"Is this enough?" Hiro asked, holding up a wad of bills. Yama smiled and placed Little Yama back in the ring.

 

Hiro held up a small, unimpressive twelve-inch robot. He tried to seem confident. He'd learned a long time ago that when you bot-fought in this part of town, you never let them see your fear.

 

Hiro put Megabot down into the ring. Immediately, the tiny robot toppled over. Yama couldn't hide his smirk¹⁰ as he sat on his mat. Hiro also sat down, his mat across the ring from Yama's. The bettors went crazy. Piles of cash grew higher and higher.

 

The referee¹¹ stepped up and lowered an open umbrella between the two. "Two bots enter! One bot leaves!" she shouted. "Fighters ready? Fight!"

 

Little Yama quickly advanced on Megabot, towering over him. In seconds, he had sliced through Hiro's bot! The crowd cheered.

 

But without warning, Hiro's seemingly broken bot reassembled. "Megabot, destroy!" Hiro ordered.

 

Hiro's bot counterattacked with such deadly force, the fight was over in seconds. Little Yama was torn to pieces. Bits of him sparked and jumped all over the ring.

 

With the click of Hiro's remote control, Megabot gave a cute yet awkward bow. The whole audience was silent.

 

Mr. Yama was stunned¹². "But ... wha—? How? This is not possible!"

 

Hiro smiled. "No one likes a sore loser, big guy. But everyone loves a winner!" He held up his bot, and the crowd chanted, "Hi-ro! Hi-ro! Hi-ro!"

 

"No!" Mr. Yama yelled, and the crowd became silent. "No one can beat Little Yama. You cheated, and I want to know how! Give me that bot." Several of Mr. Yama's large associates suddenly moved toward Hiro.

 

"I can see you're upset. Here's what I'm gonna do: I'll teach you everything I know about high-torque micromotors," Hiro said as the huge men backed him into a corner. "I charge an hourly rate—it's pricey, but worth it. Before you know it, you'll be making robots that aren't totally junky. First class is free!" Hiro was really starting to sweat when a scooter came out of nowhere and tore down the alley. It skidded¹³ to a stop, knocking Mr. Yama and his goons to the ground.

 

"Get on!" the rider yelled to Hiro.

 

旧金山这个说大不大，说小不小的城市，总是给人一种古老与新潮相结合的神秘感。浓雾笼罩的夜里，摩天大楼明亮的灯光和现代城市里柔和的霓虹灯，给维多利亚时期的古老宝塔和被遗忘的古老小巷染上了一层魅惑的光芒。

 

在这样一个夜晚，一个名叫小宏的十几岁男孩正走进一条砖砌的古老巷子。他在寻找一个成年人相聚格斗的地方。

 

这个小男孩最终走近了吵闹的人群，他感到有些紧张。围挤在格斗场四周的人们正反复呼喊着：“山哥!山哥!”

 

山哥是个大个子男人，有着相扑运动员一样的块头。他趾高气扬地走进格斗场，胜利地高举着巨大的双手。刚刚进行完的是场“不死不休”的格斗，山哥的机器人高18英寸，配备精良，一只手装配了个爪子，另一只手安装了个旋转的锯齿轮，它刚刚斩获比赛头筹。被击败的机器人的遗骸，被随意地扔到一堆其他战败的机器人残骸上。

 

“下一个谁来?”山哥扫视着人群咆哮道。围观者交易着钱财，准备着再下赌注。“谁有种下场挑战我的小山哥?”这群人盯着大块头男人的凶猛机器人，不断向后退。有些人甚至把他们的机器人藏到了背后。

 

这时一个声音响起：“我能试试吗?”人群中闪开一条路，所有人的目光都凝聚在小宏身上。

 

山哥眯起眼：“你叫什么名字，小子?”

 

“我叫宏，滨田宏。”

 

这个四百磅重的男人把他的粗胳膊交叉在胸前：“回家吧，菜鸟。机器人格斗可不是陪小孩玩玩具机器人，想格斗你得掏钱。”

 

小宏举起一把揉皱的钱问道：“这些够吗?”山哥一边笑，一边把小山放回了格斗场。

 

小宏举起一个个头小小、毫无特色的12英寸高机器人。他努力让自己看起来自信一点。很久前他就知道，在小城的这一带参加机器人格斗时，千万不能让别人看到自己的恐惧。

 

小宏把他的超能机器人放到格斗场里。刚入场，他的小机器人就瘫倒在了地上。山哥坐在垫子上忍不住露出得意的笑容。小宏也坐了下来，就坐在山哥对面的垫子上。赌博者疯狂起来。成堆的钞票堆得越来越高。

 

裁判走近一步，把打开的伞放低至两者之间。“两个机器人入场，只有一个可以活着离开!”她喊道，“选手们准备好了吗?开始!”

 

小山迅速逼近，它远远高出超能机器人，在几秒钟内就把小宏的机器人切成了几段。人群沸腾了。

 

可就在没有任何预示的情况下，小宏那看似坏掉的机器人重新组合了起来。“超能机器人，灭了它!”小宏下命令道。

 

小宏的机器人以致命的力量反击，格斗在几秒钟内结束了。小山被撕碎了，碎片四溅，散落在场地内。

 

随着小宏咔嗒一声的远程遥控，超能机器人可爱又笨拙的鞠了一躬。所有的观众都沉默了。

 

山哥被惊呆了。“可是……什么?怎么回事?这是不可能的!”

 

小宏笑道：“没有人喜欢恼怒的输家，大块头。但是所有人都喜欢赢家!”他将自己的机器人举起，人群呼喊着，“宏!宏!宏!”

 

山哥喊道：“不!”人群安静下来。“没人能够打败小山哥。你作弊，我要知道你怎么做到的!把那个机器人给我。”突然几个与山哥一起的大块头向小宏围了过来。

 

“我知道你很沮丧。现在我要做的是：我会教给你我所知道的一切关于高扭矩微电机的知识”小宏一边说一边被那些大块头逼进了角落。“我每小时收费是很高的，但却很值得一听。你知道以后，就不会做出这种完全垃圾的机器人了。第一节课免费!”小宏真吓得开始出汗，这时，不知道哪里开来的小摩托车飞奔进了巷子，打着滑紧急刹住，把山哥与和他一伙的暴徒们撞倒在地。

 

“上车!”骑车的人朝小宏大喊道。

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