Machal Techan. Only a minority of the Earth’s population had ever heard of this ancient Incan pyramid in Northern Peru. Of that minority, almost none know of the many epic battles fought there over the past millennia. Hundreds of thousands of warriors had fought and died on the ancient stone blocks of Machal Techan, in countless bloody battles.

For more than two hundred years, the impassive temple had remained lifeless; its shamans gone, its warriors dead, and its existence mostly forgotten. Then one day, Machal Techan’s walls once again teemed with life. The remote pyramid had been chosen to be the staging site for an evil villain’s plot to destroy his greatest foes. Huge mutated dogs lumbered through the stone hallways, carrying heavy equipment this way and that in preparation for the coming day when the intricate plan of their master, General Parvo, would come together.

In the temple’s huge main room they slowly erected a great machine. Its design was ingenious; the result of millions of dollars worth of stolen technology and a touch of mad genius. This machine was named the ‘Ripper,’ due to its deadly ability to rip certain unique molecules from their chemical moorings. More specifically, it could sever the bonds that held together General Parvo’s worst enemies, the Road Rovers, a group of heroic cano-sapiens. When fired on a pure cano-sapiens, the special connections linking a canine’s genes to a human’s would be torn apart, leaving the poor cano-sapien a mere mass of dust on the floor.

The Ripper was finished after countless days and weeks of toil and labor, and finally the trap went into its final stages. Parvo and his cohort, the Groomer, deliberately leaked critical information that revealed the location of Machal Techan and vaguely implied a terrible threat to the world. Within days, five Road Rovers responded to the rumor, and Machal Techan’s stone hallways once again rang with the sounds of battle.

* * *

Dervish Vagabond felt as though he had never been in such a hot place before. It must have been at least one hundred degrees, even under the rainforest’s perpetual blanket of clouds. Had he not previously doused his black tank top with cool water before getting off the Sky Rover, he would have surely overheated by now. Only the moisture evaporating from his loose mesh shirt kept him cool enough to go on.

The oppressive heat in the jungle, and the constant discomfort it conferred upon the thick-furred cano-sapien, consistently caused Dervish to remember with disgust his last words before boarding the Sky Rover for this mission. Hunter had asked him why he had chosen to wear the mesh tank-top and cargo-shorts, rather than his Road Rover armor, with its auto-cooling capabilities. The Sheltie had only replied with a lopsided grin and the words, "We won’t have to deal with the sun, will we? I mean, come on! How hot could it be?"

"How hot could it beee?" Dervish thought, his mind tainting the words with sarcasm and disgust. "Geez, you’re a moron sometimes, Derv. You just have to be unique, don’t you? Even if it makes you pass out from heatstroke. Reeeal smart."

Without the assistance of his deceptively high-tech orange sunglasses, the Sheltie would barely be able to see five feet in front of him, as a thick layer of fog permeated the jungle. However, even the amazing glasses could only vaguely discern the general shape of the temple that his team sought. In the periphery to his left he could still make out the bright orange heat signatures of Hunter’s team.

"Psst, Derv," one of his teammates, Meetrick, began in a loud whisper. He was a giant of a cano-sapien, a Saint Bernard by breed. He was close to six-foot-nine, and weighed around three hundred pounds; most of if muscle. Though he rivaled Shag, one of the original Road Rovers, for size, Dervish had found that Meetrick was quite a bit more talkative and intelligible than the original member. Normally this was fine for the Sheltie, but in this situation, with stealth a considerable issue, Meetrick’s chattiness was more dangerous than amusing. Dervish took a careful glance back at Meetrick, replying only with a raised eyebrow.

The Saint Bernard quietly continued, "How far is it to the temple?"

The Sheltie sighed, gave a small shrug, then used his right hand to signal "four hundred meters." When he saw Meetrick nod, the Sheltie gave a questioning look to his other team member, an Australian Kelpie named Cobber. The Kelpie was a talented swords-dog, and also had an incredible psionic power that emanated from a scar over his right eye. Though chosen to be a leader in the Road Rovers, current events demanded a leader with more training and experience, like Dervish. The quiet Aussie shook his head, indicating he had no questions.

Dervish gave an appreciative nod, then turned and once more began to move towards Machal Techan. As he walked, Dervish considered the Road Rovers’ current situation; only two members—Hunter and himself—held veteran status within this team. Cobber, although he had been with the team for a few months, still didn’t have the experience to be called a veteran. Meetrick and Boomerang (a Greyhound currently with Hunter) were still rookies. "Oh boy," thought Dervish as the group moved ever closer to the looming temple, "Hunter, Cobb, two rookies and me trying to save the world in freakin’ Peru…This is gonna be interesting, to say the least."

* * *

The main hall was monstrous, easily the width of a football field and half the length of one. On one end of the great room was a raised platform of stone; three figures currently stood on this pedestal and overlooked the large force of cano-mutants battling on the floor. The middle figure was a large man with a cybernetic right forearm and left foot, General Parvo. He showed off his hugely muscled upper body with a black tank top, his cruel face set off by a long blonde mustache.

To Parvo’s left was the Groomer, the criminal mastermind’s most trusted henchwoman. A Scot by birth, her evil mind perpetually dwelt upon either assisting her employer or finding new ways to inflict harm on animals (particularly the Road Rovers).

On Parvo’s right was a tall and muscular Great Dane cano-sapien. Named Diablo, the dog was a mercenary and came highly recommended among villains. He had been trained by the best, and it showed; he had only failed one assignment in all his time as a mercenary. That one defeat had disbanded his one-time team of mercenaries, and had instilled in Diablo a deep hatred for certain cano-sapiens.

The three villains atop the pedestal watched the unfolding battle below them with disdain; only three Road Rovers were currently thrashing Parvo’s superior force of robots and cano-mutants. Their scanners had shown five coming towards the temple, and only three were needed to fight off Parvo’s forces. It was a disheartening thought for Parvo that his forces could be repulsed so easily.

"Can’t we just use the machine on one of them, General?" the Groomer finally burst out in her thick Scottish accent.

Parvo turned to the Groomer, then said in his deep gravelly voice, "No, Groomer. I’m not about to waste the Ripper’s energy on one of those mangy mutts." He turned back to the scene below him, scowled, then stated, "We wait to use it until we can hit someone important." Anticipating his associate’s protest, Parvo abruptly cut off the Scott by saying, "We wait for someone important, Groomer. That’s final." Hearing this made the Groomer bite her lip in frustration, but she did not argue the point further.

After a moment more of watching the fighting, the mustachioed villain turned to the scowling Great Dane to his right. "And what is your take on the situation, Diablo?"

"Your forces are as weak and ineffective as a litter of kittens. I would hope these aren’t your front-line troops."

The muscular man let out a laugh, then stated, "True. But they’re keeping the Rovers tied up long enough for my trap to work. That’s all they were created for in the first place." Parvo took another look at the unfolding battle, then stated, "If only a target that was worth using the Ripper on would show up, we could end this here and now…"

As if on cue, the leader of the Road Rovers, Hunter, abruptly appeared in the middle of the great room, a trail of fire indicating where he had used his super speed to run into the room. Seeing the heroic Golden Retriever appear in the room made General Parvo’s eyes light up with evil delight. As Hunter began to toss gas-filled tennis balls at pockets of unsuspecting cano-mutants, Parvo ordered the final phase of his evil plan to commence.