Tom and Rachel materialized on a plateau overlooking a beautiful forest that flowed down into a sandy beachfront as pristine, blue water lapped the shoreline. If not for the circumstances, this small, uninhabited island in the Pacific would look like the perfect, scenic vacation spot.

  The pair were already clad in their respective red and blue armor, and they were met by their three new teammates. Ethan, Olivia, and Alexa were armored up as well.

  “Control, this is Red Knight. Blue and I have just arrived and we’re with Green, Yellow, and Purple,” said Tom. “What’s the sit-rep?”

  “Breach was detected several miles off the coast from your current position, Red. Visual confirmation, over.”

  Tom’s thoughts activated his helmet’s built-in telescopic vision. Something was out in the middle of the ocean, but too small to see from where he stood. His visor activated its zoom feature, enlarging and enhancing the target. What he saw made him gasp.

  He had no sense of the creature’s scale, but it towered over the surface of the water. Its legs were forged of solid rocks, as were its shoulders and chest. Jagged spikes sprouted from the shoulders, and each arm was composed of a different element. Flowing magma and dancing flames covered the left arm, while the right arm looked like solid ice with water flowing around it. The abdomen contained a miniature tempest, with air tightly whirling around. The head itself looked like an ethereal skull made of electricity, with lightning bolts arcing off from the center.

  “Visual confirmed, Control. You seeing what I’m seeing?” asked Tom.

  A hesitation came before Marcus’s voice responded over the comm. “Yeah, we see it. Level 4 designation looked appropriate, could possibly be a Level 5.”

  “We’re definitely going to need the Titans for this,” said Rachel.

  “Titan request received and approved. Stand by for arrival.”

  The air exploded with multi-colored bursts of energy and sonic booms of air displacement. The Unicorn materialized first, his mechanical legs and hooves stomping on the ground while yellow energy swirled around it, coalescing around the horn. Next came the Raiju, letting off a snarl while blue lighting sparked all along his wolf-like frame. The Karkinos appeared third, his massive pincers waving in the air, green trails following them. A screech from above signaled the arrival of the Wyvern, his purple frame tinged with sparks of similarly colored energy. And finally, the cry of the Phoenix as she flew above, flames edging around her mechanical wings.

  “Confirm Titan arrival, Control.” Tom glanced at each of his teammates, focusing especially on the three newcomers. “Just like in training, all right? Activate your bucklers and picture your Titan in your mind.”

  Tom’s hand went to the silver-lined belt around his waist. In the center of the belt was a round, red gem. Each of the Knights had one in their own color, and it acted as a teleportation link directly to their respective Titan. Once they each touched it, the gem glowed with their color, and they were engulfed in a field of energy. The five chromatic streaks shot for each of the Titans, and within moments, all five of them were seated in their Titan’s cockpit.

  Once inside, Tom took a deep breath, his right hand wrapping around the Phoenix’s flight stick. The fingers of his left hand brushed along the armrest, and he could feel the Phoenix’s emotions flow through him.

  “I missed you too, girl,” he said. This was the first time he’d been inside the Phoenix’s cockpit since the death of Scott and the others.

  “Phoenix Titan, good to go,” he said.

  “Raiju Titan, online,” said Rachel.

  “Karkinos Titan, primed and ready,” said Ethan.

  “Unicorn Titan, all set,” said Olivia.

  “Wyvern Titan, let’s rock and roll,” said Alexa.

  “Heading out to sea for a closer look at what we’re dealing with,” said Tom. “Purple, stay on my six.”

  “I’m your wingman, Maverick,” said Alexa with a snicker.

  “Believe it or not, I always identified more with Iceman,” said Tom.

  “And here I thought that was just me,” said Rachel.

  Tom gave a chuckle. The Phoenix projected a smaller view screen showing his rear view, and the Wyvern lining up behind him.

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  They soared over the pristine waves, and the figure in the distance grew larger. Even though Tom had gotten a look at the Elemental from the shore, up close proved more terrifying. The Elemental raised its right arm, and a jet-stream of water flowed at the Phoenix.

  Tom pulled back on the stick, trying to avoid the water. Instead, it caught the Wyvern, and the purple Titan spun through the air.

  “Purple! Do you copy?” Tom shouted. “Control, you have a lock on Wyvern?”

  Before Marcus could respond, Tom heard Alexa’s voice over the speakers.

  “I’m good. Just got a little shaken up, but I’m still in the game,” she said.

  Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He circled around the Elemental, targeting it from behind. Crosshairs appeared on his view screen, locking onto the Elemental’s back.

  “Locked on, firing.”

  The Phoenix screeched as she came to a stop in mid-air, lingering for a moment. She unfurled her mechanical wings out to the sides, and red energy built up, flowing along the feathers. The wings folded forward, pointing at the Elemental, and concentrated streams of white-hot flames burned through the chasm that separated the two.

  Flames engulfed the Elemental, and the monster growled with a sound unlike anything Tom had heard before. With a spin, the electric skull faced Tom and shot twin lightning bolts from its eyes.

  Too fast to evade. Tom could do nothing more than brace as the electricity surged through the Phoenix. The Titan’s mechanical body shuddered and quaked, and he could feel a muted form of the Phoenix’s pain through their bond.

  “Lay off the boss man, freak!” shouted Alexa.

  Tom watched on the view screen as the Wyvern came in for an attack. The Wyvern’s wings flapped at the Elemental, and with each flap came a sickle of hard air.

  Whoosh!

  Whoosh!

  Whoosh!

  Each one sliced off chunks of the Elemental’s ice arm, but water flowed into place and quickly froze again to replace the severed parts.

  “Purple, lead it to the shore!” said Rachel. “Five on one are better odds than two.”

  Tom kicked himself for not thinking of that himself. He’d been too wrapped up in the moment. But he quickly recovered and issued an order of his own. “She’s right. Green, the water’s your element. Meet us halfway and help pile on.”

  “Copy that,” said Ethan.

  The Wyvern and Phoenix both circled around the Elemental to goad it. The beast roared and swiped at them, but they kept out of its reach. Once they’d sufficiently taunted it, they rocketed back toward the island. Tom confirmed in his rear view that the Elemental had taken the bait.

  With each of the monster’s footfalls, waves crashed out for the shore. Tom couldn’t help but be grateful that this island was uninhabited. Who knew what sort of damage those waves would cause if there were any people living on the island?

  Just ahead, Tom noticed the Karkinos moving out into the water. Both the Wyvern and the Phoenix broke off from their flight paths, flying around the Karkinos. The Elemental had to face the crab-like robot head on, however.

  Raising itself above the water, the Karkinos’s legs positioned it to strike; its massive pincers targeted the Elemental’s rocky legs. With tremendous mechanical force, the rock was broken, and the Elemental fell into the ocean. Steam rose up from the surface once the flaming arm hit the water.

  The pincers grabbed hold of the chest and raised the Elemental up above the water. The Karkinos’s arms coiled back, then hurled the Elemental onto the shore. Once the Elemental’s body reached land, electricity engulfed it, courtesy of the Raiju. And then that was compounded by the heavy footfalls of the Unicorn. With each stomp of his hooves, quakes struck the Elemental. Both the Wyvern and the Phoenix piled on, adding their fire and wind powers to the onslaught. Karkinos came last to the party, but added his own jet-streams of water to blast at the beast.

  The Elemental screamed an unearthly sound. And when it did, it unleashed the combined force of all of their abilities. Wind, earth, fire, water, and electricity. All five lashed out in concert, knocking back the Titans.

  The earth formed around the Elemental’s lower extremities, rebuilding the legs that the Karkinos had broken off. It grew even larger than before, towering well above the mountain peaks of the small island, and far over the Titans.

  “Okay…that doesn’t look good,” said Olivia. “What now?”

  Tom paused to consider the options. Piling on wasn’t working, they’d have to escalate. “We have to fuse.”

  “They’ve only just started learning how to pilot the Titans. You really think we’re in a place to achieve fusion?” asked Rachel.

  Marcus’s voice broke in. “There’s no other option. This is on the verge of a Level 6. You have to attempt fusion now.”

  Tom drew in a sharp breath. Fusion was a complicated procedure and only reserved for dire situations. It required complete trust and cooperation not only between each Knight and their Titan but also between all of them. That meant ten distinct souls had to come into complete synchronicity. It proved challenging for even the most experienced teams, and this group had only recently begun to trust each other.

  “Let’s give it a go.” Tom hesitantly reached a hand for the fusion lever and pulled it down. “Fusion sequence activated.”

  Audio confirmations came from each of the other four. The Titans all lined up in formation in preparation for fusion. Karkinos stood in the center of the configuration, with the Wyvern hovering just a little above him, and the Phoenix above the Wyvern. The Raiju and Unicorn both lined up in front of the Karkinos. Lines of energy arced between all five of the Titans, and their mechanical bodies started to shift in preparation.

  But then, something went wrong.

  [[ ERROR! ERROR! FUSION DISRUPTED! FUSION DISRUPTED! ]]

  “What the hell’s happening?” asked Ethan.

  “We’re not in sync,” said Tom, then whispered. “Oh shit…we can’t fuse…”

  Aboard the Obsidian Dreadnought, Lord Xerath stood and watched. The scene of the Knights battling the Elemental that Malakai chose played out as a holographic image before him. A smile spread across his lips.

  “You’ve done well, Lord Malakai.”

  Malakai stomped his hand to his breast and bowed. “Thank you, my Lord.”

  “Lord Draven, I trust you’ve deciphered the coordinates from Sylva’s psychic beacon and the shard?” asked Xerath.

  “Yes, Lord Xerath,” said Draven from beside him.

  “Perfect,” said Xerath. “Open the breach. Today, we destroy the Quantum Group.”