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I hid under a pile of rubble, glad to be free from the demonic grip of Azaralath. Rizzo scrambled into the hiding spot beside me, elbowing me to make space.

“Out of the way, Fizzle!” he snarled.

I had never been so happy to hear the nickname I hated.

“Rizzo!” I said. “You saved me.”

“Yeah, don’t let it get around,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let that demon trash the whole city! Saving you was just a side effect.”

A thunderous crash boomed above us as the Codex’s Mega Battle Bot smashed the demon Az.

Rizzo nearly jumped out of his fur.

“That’s enough heroics for me. Time to save my own tail. Later, Fizzle!”

Rizzo scrambled out from our hiding spot and ran across the arena on all fours. The battling titans were too busy locked in their struggle to notice the little kobold escape.

My own claws itched to follow him. It would be easy to slip away from this mess. Let the Codex’s bot deal with Az the demon. That had been Rufus’s plan all along. I had been too busy trying to stop the Codex from destroying Slick City to realize he was our only hope to save it. Time to get out of the way and let the big boys get the job done. I dug my claws into the dirt, ready to run.

A metallic crunch stopped me before I got started. The Codex’s Mega Bot was down. Az loomed over the battle bot, ready to move in for the kill. Rufus frantically punched the controls of his bot. Each hit from the Mega Bot bounced harmlessly off the demon.

My tail corkscrewed with despair. Even the mighty Codex and his Mega Bot weren’t enough to destroy Az. If the biggest battle bot in Rockfall Mountain couldn’t win, what hope did the rest of us have?

And that’s when I saw them.