[[ WARNING! WARNING! SYSTEM FAILURE! ]]

Tom Stone ignored the shouts of the system and pulled hard on the stick. The large jet designed in the image of a giant phoenix was sluggish to respond as he tried to pull up from an uncontrolled descent.

“C’mon…c’mon…”

He could feel the same emotions as the ship’s essence. It was a wondrous fusion of modern technology and a mysterious energy source that could only be called magic. They were called Titans, and they were more than just machines—each contained the essence of a mythical creature that had a link with its pilot. Tom could sense that the Phoenix was terrified, which only added to his own fear. Was there any possibility of surviving this outing?

“I know you’re scared, girl. But we’ve got to get back to the others. You’re the Phoenix, right? You always bounce back. Not even death can stop you.”

Strange enough, but his pep talk seemed to do the trick. The controls started responding. Tom felt the bird’s orientation change. They were rising back up through the air. He smiled behind the emotionless helmet that covered his head and patted the console.

“That’s my girl. Now let’s help our friends.”

He throttled up and the Phoenix Titan responded, its rear thrusters rocketing back towards the site of the battle. The fiery, crimson wings tore through the sky, rocketing closer to his destination, when a welcome surprise greeted him as a voice coming through the speakers.

“—ed Knight respond. Red Knight, do you read?”

Finally, the crackle of restored communications. Tom let out a sigh of relief and responded. “Red Knight, online and back in the fight.”

“Status report.”

“The Phoenix Titan’s seen better days. She’s scared, Control.”

“Don’t push the Titan past her limits. A strategic retreat is advised.”

“A retreat? Are you fucking high?”

“You mind repeating that, Red Knight?”

Tom sighed. “What I mean is that my team needs me and I’m not about to give up on them.”

There was a moment of silence and then the last thing Tom wanted to hear: “The team is gone, Red Knight.”

Behind the visor of his crimson helmet, Tom’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. The team gone? Impossible. He wouldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it. There was no way he was the only one left.

“Red Knight, did you copy? I said your team is gone. Strategic retreat is advised. Please respond.”

“I’m not turning back, Control.”

“Red Knight, you must return to base immediately! That’s an order!”

“Then you can write me up for insubordination later, but I’m not giving up on my friends.”

“Red Knight! Red Knigh—”

“Disable comms,” Tom ordered the Titan. The crackle of Control’s frantic orders was suddenly silenced. Tom took a deep breath. “Better.”

Concern emanated from the Phoenix. She was worried not only about Tom’s uncharacteristic insubordination, but also the fate of the rest of the team. Tom tried his best to calm the spirit housed in the robot.

“Everything’s fine. We got cut off from communications when we were blown back. More than likely, that’s also what happened to the others,” he said. “You’ll see. We’ll get there and everything will be fine. Now come on. It’s time to save the goddamn day.”

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The heads-up display marked the location of the enemy on a holographic map. Tom pushed on the stick and the Phoenix burst through the clouds. The massive wraparound monitor gave a panoramic view of what was right in front of the Titan, and as the clouds parted ways, Tom could see a serpentine monster below. It was black and covered with scales, with the head of a snake. The long neck extended down into the body of a giant lizard. The neck was wrapped around a giant crab-like robot. Giant pincers adorned the robot, which had shades of green. This robot was another of the Titans and piloted by the team’s leader, Scott Taylor.

“See, what’d I tell you?” Tom asked his Titan. “Karkinos is still active, which means so is Scott. Gonna take a lot more than a creepy snake monster to finish off the Green Knight.”

The Phoenix remained unconvinced but didn’t protest. Tom tried to survey the rest of the ground as best he could. He couldn’t see the rest of the team from this vantage point.

“No sign of the others yet.”

Concern emanated from the Phoenix, and Tom again had to play a soothing role.

“I know we have no sign of the others. But we had no sign of the Green Knight until just now, so don’t lose hope. Instead, how about we give our pal some help?”

The Phoenix slowed its descent, holding out its wings far to the sides. Crimson energy started coursing from the Titan’s eyes and chest, flowing out to its wings. A fiery aura surrounded the mechanical beast, drawing the snake monster’s attention. As the creature looked away from the Karkinos Titan, the Phoenix swooped its wings forward, unleashing the fiery energy in a massive discharge of elemental power and knocking it back into a mountain.

Tom attempted to open a secure comms channel with the Karkinos Titan.

“Green, do you copy?”

“What took you so long, Red? You napping on the job?”

Tom chuckled at Scott’s ribbing. “Nah, just didn’t want to upstage our fearless leader. Thought I’d give you a chance to prove yourself.”

“Right, right. Guess I gotta do everything myself around here.”

“What’s the status of the others?”

Silence came as a response. Tom checked to make sure the line was still open. “Scott?”

“I don’t know, okay? And stick to call signs.”

“Phoenix, can you locate the others?” asked Tom.

The map appeared on the HUD once again, pinpointing the locations of the other team members.

“I need visual.”

The Phoenix turned its head around, trying to see the rest of the team. Lying just off to the side and sprawled out on the ground was the Wyvern Titan, a pink robot with large wings and a serpentine body. Near the Wyvern was the Unicorn Titan. A yellow equine robot with a large horn knocked over on its side. And covered with rocks was the Raiju Titan, a blue robot that resembled a gigantic wolf.

“Titans are down. Vitals?”

There was a buzzer-like sound and then the phrase [[ SIGNAL NOT FOUND ]] flashed on the HUD.

“Signal not found…doesn’t mean they’re gone…could just be transmission damage.” Tom’s attempts at reassurances weren’t convincing. He didn’t even really know if they were for Scott or himself, but he was sure neither believed them. “How are you doing?”

“Honestly? I’ve seen better days. The Karkinos, too. Not sure how much more we can take.”

A warning blared as the snake monster

“It’s back!”

The snake monster went on the offensive, tackling the Karkinos Titan from behind. Its neck extended, wrapping around the Titan’s pincer arm and squeezing. Even in his cockpit, Tom could hear metal being rent until the pincer snapped right off.

“Shit!”

“Scott!” Tom flew back into action, readying the Phoenix’s weapons. “We need another elemental blast!”

[[ Insufficient power, ]] came the computer’s response. [[ Utilizing the Phoenix Flame without proper cool-down could cause catastrophic damage. ]]

“Well, what goddamn choice do we have?”

The snake continued slithering around, expanding its body to impossible lengths. It continued wrapping itself around the Karkinos Titan, and the sound of metal crunching beneath it was torture for the Red Knight.

“Reroute all power to the Phoenix Flame.”

[[ Utilizing the Phoenix Flame without proper cool-down— ]]

“I know, dammit! Just do it now!”

Warnings continued to flash across the HUD as Tom pushed the Phoenix Titan to its limits. He could feel the Phoenix’s fear mixed with a sense of betrayal, but it was the one shot he had left. The only way he could save his team.

Once again, the Phoenix spread its wings and unleashed a powerful burst of crimson energy, which consumed the snake. Instead of releasing the Karkinos, the creature only coiled around the Titan even tighter, screeching and throwing its head back in pain.

Tom was losing control of the Phoenix. It started diving into free-fall, with warnings continuing to flash. He pulled the emergency eject lever, and the canopy flew off. His chair shot up into the air and into relative safety due to the ejection.

The parachute opened and Tom descended from the sky as he watched the Phoenix Titan crash into the snake and the Karkinos. There was an explosion that engulfed all three of the massive behemoths.

“Scott!” Tom tried to activate his helmet’s comms. “Scott, do you read me?”

Static was all that filled the space of his helmet. Once Tom landed to safety, he pulled the parachute off and darted for the flaming wreckage. Finally, the snake’s charred corpse loosened from the Karkinos, but all that remained of the two Titans was flaming metal.