Chapter 4

Perditus was hurled into the dirt and covered with a thick layer of sand. As Telluris exulted from high atop his mount, Vocta and Kaldii exchanged glances and scrambled into the cockpit.

“Kaldiii! Were you paying attention?”

“Uh—”

Vocta grimaced, scooting into the seat and surveying the landscape. Kirbraz and Scodonius were both bickering over something stupid and Perditus was struggling to get free of the sand where he was trapped. Taking a deep breath, Vocta stomped her foot down repeatedly in the direction she’d seen Perditus press.

The vehicle did nothing.

“There are peddles,” Kaldii said, lowering her head to examine the area.

“My feet can’t reach that far!!!”

“Here,” Kaldii ducked beneath Vocta’s legs and scrambled beneath the steering column. Although most of her bulk blotted out most of the light, she could barely make out two peddles.

An explosion from the right signaled someone from the Kaxium had fired a Thornax into space—but now the Water Agori were barking commands at each other and steering their halves of the Kaxium in different directions, causing the whole vehicle to spin wildly.

“Ignore them,” Vocta rolled her eyes. “What do you see down there?”

“Two pedals.”

Vocta threw a worried glance at Perditus, who was completely helpless. The Skopio was starting to thrash its legs as Telluris taunted him. But despite the thrashing, the Skopio legs were failing to hit their mark.

Vocta looked down. “Just press one of them.”

Kaldii held her breath and threw her full weight on one of them. As if it had been merely awaiting a command, the Thornatus tore forward, charging across the sand—Kaldii rattling as her head kept bumping the steering column and Vocta with her eyes closed and screaming all the way.

Veering and bumping all the way, the Thornatus labored all the way beside the Skopio XV-1 monstrosity. As it passed, Kaldii threw her fist down on a big red button. From behind her head, several powerful blasters spat out successive rounds of heavy artillery. Some of these landed squarely on one of the Skopio’s legs, but little seemed to happen.

The Thornatus slowed as Kaldii pulled her head out. “What happened.”

“Nothing. See? The Skopio’s leg was barely scratched.”

“But why hasn’t it moved…?”

Vocta frowned as she peered closer. Sure enough, the Skopio was in the exact same position it was when they’d found it. Telluris was furiously working his controls, trying to smash Perditus, but beyond that… nothing.

“It’s leg’s trapped!” Kaldii realized. “Look, see? Those are legs underneath it.”

Sure enough. As if its very bones had given out, two of the Skopio legs were completely defunct while the rest of the machine sat atop them.

✴        ✴        ✴

From their position, Scodonius and Kirbraz had made the same connection.

“Great, but… what do we do about it,” Kirbraz frowned.

Scodonius’s brow furrowed as he studied the opponent. The Twin Hurricanes had fought the Skopio before, losing every time much as everyone else had. The Skopio was like the Skrall in the Glatorian portion — dreaded and uncontested.

But centuries of arena matches had taught him how to locate an opponent’s weakness. Scodonius gasped as he realized it.

“You see how when the leg flails, it keeps brushing the ground?”

Kirbraz’s eyes narrowed as he searched for what his partner was getting at. But then the light dawned.

“Ohhhh…” he considered. “But the others will have to distract him.”

✴        ✴        ✴

For their part, the Skrall Agori were looking for whatever gadget on the Thornatus they could possibly use next when some flashing blue happened to catch Vocta’s attention. She whirled.

Kirbraz and Scodonius were standing in their seats, flailing their arms in an effort to catch their attention. Upon realizing Vocta was looking, Scodonius began making wild circular gestures, while Kirbraz was making giant zig-zags.

“The others… I think they’re trying to tell us something…”

“What is it?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Vocta said, landing in her seat and revving the Thornatus up.

✴        ✴        ✴

Vocta wasn’t the only one who’d seen the two Water Agori. Growing completely exasperated with the failure of his Skopio to reach the downed Glatorian, who was making headway in escaping his trap, Telluris leaped out of his cockpit and scrambled up the turret and began to take aim first at Perditus, then at the Kaxium.

But before he could fire, something slammed hard into the base of the Skopio, sending him nearly flying out of the turret. Looking down, he realized in horror that the Thornatus had crashed right into it and was backing away to make another charge. Perditus completely forgotten, he whirled his turret to take aim.

“Now!” shouted Scodonius.

The Kaxium’s engines roared as the two riders kicked it into top gear. Flailing for less than a second, the motorcycle caught traction among the sand and ripped forward, screaming through the air as it neared its target and time itself seemed to slow.

From his seat, Kirbraz focused, flipping one lever and throwing open the cover to a few unexposed buttons.

Scodonius pulled back on one of his cranks and fastened his seatbelt.

With its rider having turned his focus on the Rock Agori, the mighty beast now rested all its legs on the ground.

Kirbraz inhaled—the move was easily one of the top five most reckless things he and his partner had ever done.

“Mark!”

As one, the dual riders slammed buttons on their panels, and the rear wheels locked as their momentum carried them forward. The front wheels lifted off the ground but spun faster than ever, and the Kaxium leaped like a Mountain Panther for one of the legs of the beast. At the very last second, an explosion between the two vehicles shot them apart. Scodonius fought to regain control of his half as it flew past the Skopio, but now Kirbraz’s half had all the momentum it needed.

Telluris scarcely saw it coming. One moment, the Thornatus was dead in his sights, one gesture of his finger from oblivion. But one crash and groan of metal machinery behind him and Telluris was face-to-face with the front wheel of Kirbraz’s Kaxium.

The Water Agori grinned. “Eat thi—wait, I can do better than—”

It was too late. The motorcycle landed hard into the cockpit, and as it floundered around, its armored front smashed into the turret sending Telluris flying and ripping the entire structure from the rest of the Skopio. The mighty vehicle’s console was smashed into oblivion, tearing free from the rest as cracks rippled through the armor. As the Kaxium escaped onto the sands below, the whole of the Skopio XV-1 trembled and heaved before collapsing to the ground below.