CHAPTER 3

ENDUR-X CHAMPIONSHIP

The next day, Atalanta meets Perseus at the Endur-X course. He is the only ThunderTruck to beat Medusa.

With just a bump, Medusa can turn any truck into a pile of scrap.

“You also need to be careful of her sisters, the Gorgonaters,” Perseus warns. “They will try to cheat to help Medusa win.”

“Where are they?” Atalanta asks.

Perseus looks up to the sky. “I don’t know, but I know that they can fly.”

“Racers, get ready!” the race official yells.

Atalanta rolls up to the starting line. She stays far away from Medusa.

“Get set!” the official says.

Atalanta revs her engine.

VROOM! VROOM!

Medusa sputters.

“GO!” the official yells.

Atalanta speeds away.

Atalanta looks back as she reaches the first part of the race, Mount Trolympus. She has left Medusa in her dust.

She starts her climb through a narrow canyon. Near the top, a large shadow crosses Atalanta’s path.

She looks up just in time to see a boulder dropping from the sky.

SCRRREEECCCHHH! She stops.

BOOM! The large rock crashes right in front of her.

“It must be the Gorgonaters,” Atalanta rumbles.

She continues up and over the mountain. On the other side is the Bottomless Bog.

Atalanta sets off slowly down a narrow and twisting path. She does not want to slip off and fall into the bubbling, oily bog.

As she zigs and zags down the trail, another shadow passes over her.

She looks up to see the Gorgonaters. They are carrying Medusa over the bog.

They set their sister down at the end of the path.

Atalanta’s way is blocked, but she is not going to let that stop her. She revs her engine to build up speed. VROOM! VROOM!

Then she turns off the path. She is racing so fast, she skips across the surface of the oily bog.

The Gorgonaters swoop down to stop her.

“We’ve got you now!” they scream.

Atalanta spins in a full circle and sprays bubbling oil everywhere. It splatters the Gorgonaters, and they crash into the bog. SPLISH! SPLASH!

Atalanta races on. She zooms across an endless desert, jumping over dunes and kicking up sand. She leaves Medusa, chugging and sputtering, far behind her.

She races until the ground drops away on both sides of the path. The thinning path leads to a narrow point.

Atalanta rolls up to the edge of a steep cliff. This is the end of the world!

“I made it!” Atalanta honks.

Then she zips back across the endless desert. She winds her way through the Bottomless Bog. She races up and over Mount Trolympus.

The ThunderTrucks wait for her on the other side.

“You did it!” Argonutz blares.

“You won another race!” B-phon honks.

As they are celebrating, three tough-looking trucks roll up to them.

It is the evil Chimera Brothers.

“She is not the World’s Speediest Truck,” The Goat bleats.

“Not unless she can beat us!” The Lion roars.

“On our Colossal Course!” The Dragon bellows as flames shoot out from his grill.