Roxie vs Aero

  “Do you remember Aero’s harmonics?” Cole whispered.

  Blake blinked. “Yeah.”

  Cole glanced at Roxie. “Do it.”

  “Huh?”

  “One of her comms crystals,” Cole said.

  Understanding dawned in Blake’s eyes.

  “Are you sure?” Blake whispered back.

  “No,” Cole said. “But do it.”

  A tentacle brought Hunter over by them, and the dragon’s head returned. “What are we whispering about?” Roxie asked.

  “Let us go,” Cole said. “Where are we going to run?”

  The tentacles released them. “If you want me to treat you with respect, then you have to . . . wait. What’s this? Oh my!”

  Cole glanced at Blake, who squinted up at the dragonbot, determination in his stare.

  Roxie reared up. “Oh no. Oh my.”

  Constance tackled Cole and Blake, her arms around both of them. Hunter jumped away, back toward the penthouse roof.

  The dragonbot began to move in jerky spasms. “Oh no you don’t,” Roxie snarled, her words a little slurred. She lurched to one side, then steadied herself.

  “Stop opening channels!” Roxie cried. “Don’t you know what he’ll do to us?”

  Some tentacles reached toward Cole, Blake, and Constance, then fell short and started wriggling. Huge tremors shook the dragonbot, and she staggered off the edge of the building. Cole heard metal grinding and tearing as she fell, followed by the colossal crash of her impact.

  Cole, Blake, Constance, and Hunter raced to the brink of the terrace. Roxie was running away from the building.

  “Is she going toward Old Zeropolis?” Cole asked.

  “Yeah, actually,” Hunter said. “What happened?”

  “I connected her to Aero,” Blake said.

  “Aero!” Hunter exclaimed. “How?”

  “I know the harmonics of a crystal that can reach him,” Blake said. “I started shaping Roxie’s comms crystals to those harmonics. At first she changed some back, but then she stopped. He must have interfered somehow.”

  “Aero can’t shape,” Cole said.

  “But he could have messed with the part of her programming that does the shaping,” Hunter said. “Or maybe she’s like me, and can’t shape as well when she’s distracted. Guys, if Aero wins, this is so bad. And if Roxie wins, she gets so much stronger.”

  “She’s going after him,” Constance said. “She told us Aero’s biggest weakness is his lack of mobility. She’ll try to fight off his attack long enough to physically destroy him.”

Chapter 37