60 THE BIGGEST WARRIORS

CHAPTER 60 THE BIGGEST WARRIORS The humans felt a sense of relief when the HYDROs took control of the ocean. But then came a change on the horizon. Akiko was the first to notice the rows of dark shapes. She grabbed her binoculars and looked closely. Giant bodies breached the surface and then dipped beneath the waves. Wide tails rose above the water and then sank below. Mist sprayed high into the air and then drifted down. The station manager lowered her binoculars and uttered a single word. "Whales." Like a fleet of living, breathing warships, hundreds of whales had united to form a super pod. Every species of northern whale was there. Different sizes and shapes and colors. They were ready to fight, and the water thrummed with their battle song. Whales are ocean warriors We're coming to defend The only home we've ever known We'll fight until the end

Off to battle we now charge With fortune on our side We will defeat our enemy And stop the poison tide The whales picked up speed, and their motion created a wave in the ocean behind them. They swam faster, and their wave grew taller. It became a massive mountain of water, rushing toward the Juggernaut. The HYDROs came together to face the new threat. In the past, they had scared off the occasional whale, but they'd never faced an army of whales. The robots prepared to fire their sound cannons. Before coming into range, however, the whales vanished beneath the surface, and their towering tidal wave continued on without them. The wave was too much for the HYDROs. But when they tried to dive down to safety they found the army of whales was waiting below. At the same time, the whales blew air from their blowholes, and a dense layer of bubbles surged upward, forcing the robots into the tidal wave's path. Engines roared as HYDRO 1 veered right and HYDRO 2 veered left. But for HYDRO 3, there was no escape. The tidal wave lifted her up and then smashed her down against the base of the station with a thunderous explosion of sea-foam. And when the wave subsided, the full extent of the damage was revealed. HYDRO 3's crumpled

body had pierced the outer wall, and now water was flooding into the station. The whales weren't finished. Another group arrived, pushing an iceberg like a battering ram. The two remaining HYDROs dug their claws into the ice and blasted their engines. It was a battle of strength, whales versus robots, with the iceberg caught in between. Sound cannons were fired—BWAA! BWAA! BWAAAAAA!—but then came more whales and more waves and more icebergs. In the frenzy, HYDRO 2 was crushed between enormous blocks of ice and she sank into the deep. Several whales were badly injured, and they slipped away to nurse their wounds. The remaining whales surrounded HYDRO 1, distracting her, confusing her. A powerful groan rumbled up from the depths, and a whale launched out of the water and crashed down onto the robot. More whales attacked. Biting, ramming, beating, crashing. HYDRO 1 was broken and battered and taking on water. Unable to stay afloat, she sank below the waves and never surfaced again. The HYDRO robots had been destroyed.