Chapter 40: Tactical Exploitation
A roar echoed inside the battleground. It was Durn’s Magmabear.
After it noticed what happened, the mechbeast abandoned an already captured Scorch before speeding at Jethro. Jethro turned to the approaching creature, staying utterly still and glaring at it.
Then, suddenly, the Magmabear stopped on its heels. It whimpered in distress as its single eye moved from Jethro to its master, who was still stuck inside the ground.
"What?" someone mumbled in the crowd.
Professor Xan’s eyes glistened as he leaned forward. "Interesting..."
Durn allowed his mechbeast to nuzzle his shoulder for a vulnerable moment, before he glared up at Jethro, straining to get free. "How did you do this? Get me out of here!"
Jethro smiled. "Me? I didn’t do anything." He squatted casually on the ground in front of the trapped boy.
"You dug this hole yourself, Durn. Literally." He tapped the hardened metal beside Durn’s imprisoned body. "You have no idea what aether regulation means, do you?"
He relished the frustrated look on Durn’s face. "I mean, I find Professor Xan aggravating, but at least I listened to what he was saying. A tamer and their mechbeast share a single aether source, and you ran yours dry, leaving both you and your Magmabear powerless. And just in the worst time too."