The Girl train burned. Youko’s feelers caught an unpleasant chemical odor and then a shockwave shook her body. An explosion. Youko dug her claws into the ground, weathering the blast. Dyaus and Ganapati weren’t so lucky. Dyaus was specialized towards flight, and her massive wings caught the wind and she was swept far off into the distance. Ganapati lost her balance and crumpled to the ground.
“Chug chug chug! Ka-clunk ka-clunk!”
The Girl train had survived the explosion. She’d cut loose the front car and a few more that had caught fire and was reversing away from them.
“Wait!” Youko’s head shot out, grabbing one of the front cars. She squeezed her mandibles tight, then let go of the ground. Her body shot through the air onto the fleeing car.
“Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak... Squeeeeeeeeak! Ga-chunk Ga-clunk!”
The Girl train’s response was simple. It cut loose the car Youko was on.
And then it launched an attack. The lead car bucked and extended a fleshy tube. The tube was engorged and hardened, and it fired missiles. The missiles exploded in midair, and with no loss of momentum, the contents rained down on Youko. It was a cluster bomb. Youko used the car as a shield. She dangled herself below the rod, trying to weather the assault. The bomb had been filled with bones of all shapes and sizes—it was ready for all sorts of targets. There were bones like shuriken, like pencils, like dice. They tore the flesh of the car she was using as a shield. Even detached from the main body, the car appeared to still be alive; it writhed in pain, trying to slither away.
The car was made from cylindrical parts covered in shell — an effective structure to handle projectile attacks. The missile’s contents were deflected, ricocheting elsewhere. But the sheer volume was too much for it. Knife-like bones sliced into the segment, cutting it. Then a giant knuckle struck the bone and cracked the shell. The integrity lost, the flesh inside was exposed. White meat. It was filled with slimy white flesh and a number of smaller yellow and red organs. It was like splitting open a crab. The organs exposed, the car listed to one side, and collapsed. Even with its guts exposed to air it was still alive. It scrambled to right itself and get back on the rails, convulsing.
Youko’s legs were injured, too. She poked her head out from under the derailed car.
The Girl train backed up to a branch line, reordered itself, and came charging back in Youko’s direction. The new front car had an organ like a praying mantis’ scythe on it. This was bad news. She staggered sideways, trying to move away from the rails. But her legs were hurt too badly to move quickly.
“Chunk chunk chunk chunk chunk chunk!”
The car was getting closer. But Youko’s pace was hopelessly slow. She was moments from being a shish kebab. She wanted to close her eyes, but with no eyelids she was forced to watch certain death approaching.
“Youko!”
Dyaus cried out from up in the sky. Youko unleashed the elasticity in her resilin and her neck shot out. Dyaus’ long legs snatched Youko’s neck out of the air. A moment later the train’s scythe swished through the space she’d been.
“You OK, Youko?”
“Somehow!”
Below them, the Girl train fired more cluster bombs. Dyaus used the shockwaves to gain altitude.
“Shit! She’s going after Ganapati next!” Dyaus yelled.
Right in the path of the train was a giant clutching her spiral head — Ganapati. Given the difference in speeds between them, she’d already abandoned the idea of running. In a ranged battle, her opponent held the advantage. Her only chance was to get in close.
The train sped up, ramming Ganapati at full speed. The scythe pieced her skin, and fluids seeped out. But Ganapati hadn’t lost yet. She kicked the impaled leg, knocking the car away. The car derailed. The moment the Girl left the tracks she became very slow. She crawled along like a shellfish.
Ganapati jumped, crushing the car. Like popping bubble wrap, she stomped forward, flattening car after car. The Girl train backed away as fast as it could, firing and detonating cluster bombs just above the ground, heedless of the damage to her own cars. Stars, spheres, triangles, squares — a variety pack of bones struck Ganapati’s face, crushing an eye. As soon as her pursuer wavered, the train sacrificed more cars, and ran for it. Dyaus flapped her wings as hard as she could but was unable to keep up.
To keep up the chase, Ganapati took to the skies. She had Vayu increase hydrogen production, taking to the air like a blimp. She turned the nozzles to her rear, mixed hydrogen and oxygen, and caused them to explode, giving chase and matching the train’s speed.
“Faster!”
Above them both, Youko urged Dyaus on. Ganapati was gaining a lead on them, and Youko was frustrated by her inability to help. Of course, her concern was with Vayu, not Ganapati. Vayu had no shell or scales. She could be killed easily. Just the thought of her dying was a crushing weight on Youko’s heart. She was prepared to do literally anything to prevent Vayu’s death.
Below her, the train was taking itself apart at the branch line. Two different sets of cars went in two directions. Ganapati hesitated for a moment, but then picked one and went after it.
But this was the wrong choice. The other set of cars backed up and followed the rails after Ganapati. She was caught in a pincer attack.
Realizing her disadvantage, Ganapati wavered between two strategies. She could use hydrogen to float higher and escape or kick up her burners and attack. She could not do both. There was a limit to how much hydrogen Vayu could produce. They’d already used a lot of it; if she used her fire, there would not be enough left to float. She was torn for a moment, but then decided to use her flamethrowers. She did a little tap dance, turning her face and raining fire down on both sets of cars. The attack quickly turned cars to lumps of charcoal, but neither slowed down at all. The Girl train had known she would take some damage and left the cars burning, aiming to crush Ganapati. With her hydrogen reserves low, Ganapati was very heavy and tragically slow. She used her feelers to yank the burning cars up, trying to get off the tracks, but the cars threw cable-like feelers with claws on the tips onto Ganapati’s back. She lost her balance, fell, and was dragged back onto the rails.