H11 Showdown in the Sierra Madre

Book Cover

**Showdown in the Sierra Madre**, Book 11 of The Golden Age of Advenutres series, was published in November 2016. It is the English language edition of the original Chinese comic, **沙雾隐者**, which was published in March 2016.

## Synopsis

AIMING FOR THE TOP! MYSTERY IN MEXICO!

Alex succeeds in becoming a host for the last Star Seed - but this also attracts the attention of the evil Sky Demon, who is seeking the power of all the Star Seeds for himself. To keep Alex safe, the world’s strongest adventurers go all out against the Sky Demon, but pay a heavy price. Angry at being thwarted, the Sky Demon vows to destroy all life on Earth and the Earth itself!

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* Axe
* Jackal
* Akhator
* Robert

## Plot

***Spoiler warning!** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

### Chapter 1: Opening Gambit

After Ragnarok, when the forces of Earth tore Akhator's body apart, he was forced to regenerate underground. Ages later, the world had changed. Akhator joined the World Adventure Union to search for the Star Seeds. He arrives atop the termite mound. Robert, Masinga and Marie are there.

The men of the Sacred Elephant Village refuse to evacuate. They would fight Akhator instead, and they have never been defeated. Goken says homes can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be replaced, so the men must evacuate.

Akhator blocks Roberts strongest punch, so Masinga unleashes a cage of thorns. Akhator breaks free. Marie releases force from her whip, but Akhator uses Whirl of the Mad King. Marie, Robert and Masinga deflect it. The two Star Seeds activate, and Akhator punches Marie. Jackal and a new face arrive at the evacuation.

### Chapter 2: Army of Monsters

Akhator cracks Robert's spine and kicks Masinga into the air. As he was about to damage him, a spinning blade and arrow engulfed the Pillars of Mother Earth in smoke. Akhator is trapped in bomb webs, and Jones detonates them. He, Jackal and the newcomer take Robert, Msinga and Marie. Akhator survives with the Star Seeds. He uses one to activate something in his base.

Anthropomorphic beasts and blue alien-looking beings awaken from their chambers. A giant beetle cracks out of the snow. The beetles and the blue aliens attack Canada's naval base. A beetle drops several beasts. They also attack England, the Soviet Union and other countries near the North Pole. The Global Alliance for Humanity, composed of the world's major military powers, put the WAU to blame after finding out this was Akhator's doing. Therefore, adventurers are outlawed.

### Chapter 3: To Mexico!

Alex has the last Star Seed tied to his back. He meets the newcomer, Axe. He showed Robert's drawing of Akhator to the treasure king of Las Vegas. He showed what he gave him: a hexagonal box. The face depicts Akhator attacking a civilisation, and that civilisation flew to Earth. Axe theorises an alien species has been in a war with Akhator and escaped to Earth. Inside the box is a pile of parchment pieces and a round stone. After connecting them, it showed a map. Axe knows this place as Cactus Crossing.

Alex meets Axe's bison, Bo. He remembers seeing a bison like him in Yanasha's memories. Axe is a descendant of those warriors of the Yapaca Tribe. Ever since his shaman told about Ragnarok, he gained an interest in aliens and became adventurer to search for them. Lulu is following because she doesn't want to be left behind again. Jackal is too by Jones' orders. Robert is furious they have not left at all.

Jones and his team watch the havoc in the Soviet Union Global Alliance base.

### Chapter 4: Cactus Crossing

Jackal gives Alex the ocean current control device. Axe wonders what it is, so Alex told about his first adventure. Jackal adds he found Number One carrying Jones, so he helped him out. Once they arrive at Cactus Crossing, they find a slab with a cactus pattern. There is a hole, so Lulu puts the round stone in. A cactus opens, revealing a puzzle: "How to change IX into 6?" A glowing chalk provided was used to write the answers are "S" (SIX) and 6 (1 X 6 = 6).

The ground breaks in from of a grid shown on the map. The team follow its directions. They enter a dead end. Axe shoots an arrow at the giant cactus. It went through, so the cactus is a hologram. There could be real danger behind, but they go through anyway.

### Chapter 5: Shooting Star

On the other side of the hologram, there is a large and tall cactus with a flower on it. There is an explosion in the sky. Alex, through his binoculars, sees a plane being persued by a giant beetle. The pilot ejects and is captured by Jackal. The beetle releases two tank beetles. Axe launches himself to the flying beetle and kills a blue alien. He also kills a crocodile and feline beast. The beetle falls and explodes.

### Chapter 6: Awakening

Alex uses his bug repellent on the tank beetle, but it did nothing. The beetle charges towards Lulu. She holds it off while Alex and Jackal put their explosive drill and spinning blade at the beetle's leg. Lulu decapitates it. The beetle targeted Lulu because she was holding the glowing chalk. She throws it away. It landed near the pilot, making the other tank beetle target her.

Alex ties its leg with his rope, but it is too strong. The Star Seed activates, and Alex's left eye turns green, the Seeds' colour. The beetle is held up in the air. Jackal decapitates it with his spinning blade. Alex's eye goes back to normal. They realise humanoid cacti surrounding them. They are the aliens depicted on the hexagonal box.

### Chapter 7: Ibyon

The flower on the tall cactus opens, revealing the queen. Alex asks if she knows what the Star Seeds are. She does. Out of all entities in the universe, the Ibyon are the most bloodthirsty and have the most powerful army. They constantly attack inhabited planets. Their motive is to use planets' energy to create Star Seeds - their most powerful weapons.

10 000 Earth years ago, they attacked the cacti people's home planet, Mumuya. The Mumuyans' technology were the same level as the Ibyon, so they were able to hold them off. They also used the Ibyon's UV ray vulnerability against them. The Ibyon leader used the Star Seeds to open wormholes for meteors to obliterate Mumuya. The Mumuyans' only choice was to leave and find another planet to live. Their scientists have developed a way to destroy the Star Seeds, but it's a theory that was never tested.

Alex tells the Mumuyan Queen the Ibyon planning to destroy Earth has overcomed his weakness, frightening her and her people. Alex fills her in on what's been going on. The queen calls Dr. Gigi and Bubu. Dr. Gigi tells Alex to hold out the Star Seed still. He uses a device to turn the Seed's nucleus black. The energy he used was collected from sunspots, which can affect a planet's atmosphere and seismic activity. Since a Seed is made from a planet, it might be destroyed by an energy that harms one. But all three Seeds need to be together to be destroyed.

At the Soviet Union Global Alliance base, Jones and his team see three Shark Riders, who may be interrogated. One of Jones' members, Dolph, sees his bomb detector detecting three bombs. The Shark Riders explode, destroying the base.

### Chapter 8: Titans of Nazca

Other Alliance bases - like Canada, China and England - and the Northern hemisphere are also destroyed, reducing Alliance forces by 50%. At his base, Akhator uses the two Star Seeds. Mole-like beasts emerge from the ground in Amon's tavern, Australia, China, Veitnam, Thailand, Argentina, South Africa and other parts of the Southern hemisphere. In Peru, the Nazca monkey rises. The Nazca condor flies towards the US, the Global Alliance headquarters specifically.

At the headquarters, the Alliance commander tells everyone to calm down to let him think. His secretary calls Robert to make an action. Robert announces to all adventurers they can move freely and stop the war. Jones says it is time to turn the tide. Hank and Marie get up despite their injuries. What adventurers begin, adventurers must finish. The call to arms has gone out.

## Trivia

* The Global Alliance for Humanity has appeared in other X-Venture series, like Dinosaur Kingdom 2, Exobot Academy and Terran Defenders.