CHAPTER 4

COLOSSAL COURSE

The next day, Atalanta meets B-phon at the course. He is the only ThunderTruck to beat the Chimera Brothers.

The Colossal Course is the scariest course yet. It is filled with mud pits to sky-high jumps and steep berms.

“The Chimera Brothers will team up on you,” B-phon warns. “First, The Lion will pop your tires with his spiked bumpers. Then, The Goat will ram you, to knock you over. That’s when The Dragon will fry you with his fire.”

“Okay, got it,” Atalanta beeps.

She rolls up to the starting line with the three MonsterTrucks.

“Racers, get ready!” the official blares.

Atalanta revs her engine. VROOM! VROOM!

“Get set!”

The Chimera Brothers’ engines roar and rumble. RRRR! RUMBLE!

“Go!”

Tires spin, and the racers are off.

The Dragon shoots a blast of fire from his grill. Atalanta zigs to the right. The Goat turns to ram into her. Atalanta zags to the left.

The Lion nips at her heels. Atalanta puts the pedal to the metal and she speeds ahead.

Atalanta zips around a turn. She hits a jump and sails over a pile of wrecks. She dives through mud pits and speeds down straightaways.

She is winning! But the Chimera Brothers are not really racing. They are waiting for Atalanta to come around and lap them.

First, she zigs around The Dragon. He tries to blast her with fire.

Next, she zags around The Goat. He attempts to ram her.

Then, she darts past The Lion. He nips at her tires.

“This isn’t working!” The Dragon bellows.

“She’s too fast,” The Lion roars.

“It is Super Monster time!” The Goat bleats.

Atalanta looks back. What she sees causes her to race faster.

As they race, the Chimera Brothers ram into one other. Their parts jumble together until the three MonsterTrucks become one Super MonsterTruck.

“B-phon didn’t warn me about this,” Atalanta gasps.

The Super MonsterTruck is huge. It has spiked bumpers like The Lion. It has ramming horns like The Goat and a flaming grill like The Dragon. It is now twice as fast and catching up to Atalanta.

“If ever I needed to be the speediest truck in the world,” Atalanta beeps, “it is right now.”

Blasts of fire melt her mud flaps. Spiked bumpers nip at her tires.

When she comes to an obstacle, she jumps over them. The Super MonsterTruck barrels through them.

Atalanta realizes that the Super MonsterTruck is more interested in smashing her than winning the race.

She slams on her brakes. The Super MonsterTruck speeds by her and skids to a halt.

“You’re about to be scrap!” the huge beast roars.

Then it charges, tires spinning and engines roaring. Behind the Super MonsterTruck is the finish line. Atalanta just needs to get by it to win.

The Super MonsterTruck expects her to zig and zag. So Atalanta does something different.

She drives straight at the charging truck! She is small enough to zip right under its axles and finish the race.