Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Twenty-One

Alex was surrounded and clearly outmatched both in numbers and weaponry. As she surveyed the land, the bots approached.

'There's always a way out,' her mother's voice played in her head.

Remaining by her fallen brother's side, they were entrenched in the force field, which kept them protected. She wasn't sure how this whole battle would play out — would the force field hold indefinitely, or would it too lose power and eventually become breached after incessant attacks?

Gripping her sword tightly, Alex stood her ground. She was content on staying put and having the fight come to her. Instinctually, she wanted to charge into battle as she was confident with her skills, but she wanted to ensure Kyodin's body did not get damaged. He deserved a proper funeral.

As the robots circled nearer, Alex felt the ground rumble. Her immediate thought was that some kind of enormous war bot would suddenly come over the hill, one that would make the current legion of machines look like toys. But as the vibrations grew stronger, she heard a loud snarling roar and then saw the long neck of a pitdador emerge over the hill. As she looked closer, she saw the cable that Kyodin had secured around its head and wondered how it escaped.

The muscular frame charged down the hill and smashed into several bots. The beast was angry and taking its rage out on the unsuspecting bots. Chunks of metal and circuitry flew through the air as the beast's pointy horns thrashed about with an unrelenting fury. The remaining bots were quick to react as they turned their attention toward the massive animal and fired their weapons.

Alex was thrilled to see the energy blasts bounce off the beast and appear to have no effect. Remembering what Kyodin had told her about the frequency transmitter and the inverted force field, she figured she must have inadvertently released the beast from its comatose state and reversed the polarity of the field. The beast had now awoken and it was stark raving mad. Protected by the force field that surrounded it, the pitdador dismantled the robots with impunity. Whether it knew it or not, the beast was on her side.

As the pitdador ran amok and distracted the remaining bots, Alex dragged Kyodin's body to safety into the entrance of the ruins. Removing Kyodin's wrist console, Alex went into battle. With only a few bots remaining, she felt confident that she could handle the rest on her own.

Emerging from the entrance, Alex timed it perfectly and ran behind the pitdador. As the beast smashed into yet another bot, Alex reactivated the frequency transmitter, setting the beast into a deep hibernated state. She wanted the last two bots to herself.

The pitdador collided with the ground face first and skidded to a stop. Still in full sprint, Alex ran up the back of the pitdador and leaped over the front end. With her sword raised above her head and her spine arced, Alex flew through the air and came down with a slicing blow that split one of the last robots in half. Upon hitting the ground, Alex rolled. Still remaining crouched from the impact of the jump, Alex drew her blaster. By now, it had sufficiently cooled and was ready to go. 

As the last bot circled for cover, Alex followed the moving target with both eyes and steadied her aim. With one precision shot, she squeezed the trigger and blew the final robot to bits.