Page 63 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

“Exactly,” said Lucy.

Roux grinned. “No problem. I can get him there.”

Lucy gave a suspicious frown. “How?”

“I’m good at avoiding stuff.” He held out a hand, palm up. “Just trust me, okay?”

“Trust you. With Tinker.”

“Yeah.” Roux rolled his eyes. “Come on, it’s not like I’m gonna run off with him now. Do you want to help Oliver and Phoebe or not?”

“You’ll never get there. You’re going to get yourself and Tinker mauled.”

There was an angry bark, and Shinji looked up. One of the dogs had crawled onto the top of the stack of crates next to Oliver and Phoebe’s and was balanced precariously on the edge. It snarled and snapped at Oliver’s cane as he swung at it with the broken end. While Oliver was fighting the dog, Phoebe ducked around him and gave the crate a resounding kick. The box teetered, then toppled off the stack, taking the dog with it. Crashing to the ground, it broke open on the concrete. Coils of wire and computer cables spilled from the broken box onto the floor.

Shinji straightened. “I have an idea,” he said, whirling on the other two. “I think I can trap a dog, at least one of them, and make it easier for Roux to get Tinker to it. But we have to do this now. And only if Roux has Tinker. Lucy?”

The dog leaped upright with a howl of fury and lunged at the crates again. But this time, it started attacking the boxes at the base of the stack, crunching through the wood with metal teeth. The second dog, when it saw what the first was doing, started munching through the crates as well. As more and more boxes were destroyed, the stack Phoebe and Oliver stood on began shrinking rapidly. Shinji’s stomach clenched as the crate Oliver was standing on tipped to the side and nearly fell. He managed to hop to another before the box toppled, but their mountain wasn’t going to last much longer.

Lucy’s lips tightened, her face going pale. “Fine,” she said. Holding up her hand, she let Tinker crawl onto it, then held the mouse out to Roux. “Be careful with him,” she warned.

“I will.” Roux held out his hand like Lucy, palm facing up. Tinker considered a moment, ears twitching back and forth as he gazed at the offered hand. After only a second, though, he leaped lightly from Lucy’s palm to Roux’s. Lucy winced as Roux’s fingers closed over the mouse and he stepped away. “All right, ra—er, Tinker. Let’s go play with some robot dogs.”

Shinji held out an arm. “On my signal,” he said.

Stepping forward, he took a deep breath and half closed his eyes, searching for the power inside him. Raising his arm, feeling the magic stir once more, he opened his hand.

A blast of wind rushed past him, whipping at his hair and snapping his clothes. From the corner of his eye, it almost had a golden tint, as if he was calling on the essence of the Coatl itself. It swirled into the room, stirring dust and rattling the items on the shelves. A vase tumbled to the floor with a crash, causing the dogs to stop and look up. Their glowing red eyes locked on Shinji.

“Intruders,”the dogs said in their robotic monotone.“Surrender or we will dispose of you.”

“Shinji, what are you doing?” Oliver called as the dogs growled and broke away from the crate pile, stalking toward him. “We told you to run. Get out of here, all of you!”

Shinji ignored him. As the robot dogs came forward, he shaped the wind into what he wanted and sent a miniature tornado into the center of the room.

The wind shrieked through the air, picking up debris and flinging it everywhere. Roux ducked behind a pillar as a broken ceramic chunk flew past him and smashed against the wall. He shouted something to Shinji, but his voice was lost in the gale.

Shinji gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain control over the swirling winds. It was like trying to hold on to a flailing octopus, with the tentacles going everywhere at once. The whirlwind picked up more pieces of debris and flung them here and there, but it also caught the pile of cables and computer wires from the broken crate. The tangle rose into the air and began swirling around the robot dogs. It wrapped around their legs and bodies, entangling them in a net of wire and rope. They snarled and snapped at the cables, tearing through them with metal fangs, but for the moment, they were distracted.

“Roux,” Shinji said through clenched teeth, “now!”

Roux sprang forward. The dogs spotted him and immediately began snarling and trying to attack. But the knot of wires slowed them down. Roux dodged out of the way of one lunging dog, spun around its haunches, and stuck Tinker to the middle of its back. He quickly leaped back to avoid the snapping jaws as the dog whirled around and bit at him.

“Yes!” Shinji cheered just as the power rushing through him sputtered out. The winds died and the whirlwind vanished, sending cables and broken pieces of wood clattering to the floor. Shinji swayed on his feet, then collapsed to the cement. For a few seconds, he knelt on his hands and knees as he waited for the dizziness to fade and for the room to stop spinning.

A growl echoed above him. Panting, Shinji raised his head…and came face-to-face with one of the robot dogs. Coils of wire and cables were still wrapped around it, dragging along the floor, but it didn’t seem slowed by them any longer. The canine stared down at Shinji with baleful red eyes. Its metal jaws opened, showing rows of glittering steel fangs. It tensed to lunge, and Shinji braced himself for the attack.

Something slammed into the dog from the side, knocking it away. It tumbled over the concrete in a cloud of sparks before smashing into a pile of crates. Wide-eyed, Shinji looked up as the second robot dog stepped between him and the first. Tinker crouched on its back, his eyes flickering a neon green, and Shinji noticed that the dog’s glowing red eyes had turned green as well.

With a snarl, the red-eyed dog leaped to its feet and lunged, and the dog Tinker was controlling sprang forward to stop it. The two metal creatures slammed into each other in the center of the room, and it sounded like a pair of cars colliding on the highway. Metal screeched, iron crumpled,

and fangs clanked harmlessly off steel hide as the robot dogs began fighting.

“Shinji.” Oliver was suddenly beside him, dragging him to his feet. “Whatever that was, it was crazy,” he said as Shinji stumbled, leaning on his arm for balance. “I don’t know why I expected the three of you to do what you were supposed to do, which was to find the idol and get out. Are you all right?”

“You’re welcome,” Shinji rasped sarcastically, earning a snort from Oliver. The robot dogs were still fighting, but it was impossible to see if they were doing any damage to each other. He just heard metal teeth scraping off metal bodies, but at least the dogs weren’t coming after him and the others anymore.

With a squeak, Tinker scampered across the floor. Lucy bent down to help him, and he leaped into her palms. “Come on,” she said as she rose. “Tinker was able to reprogram the first dog. It’ll keep fighting the other one until they’re deactivated. That should give us enough time to find the statue and get out.”

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