Jago: The Millennium Galaxy Race

Chapter 23: Separated

We took off towards the stone.

"Do you think," I shouted between breaths, "Breccan's already there?"

"Yep," answered Kiko.

My heart sank a little. If we lost, it'd be my fault again for slowing us down.

"He won't touch it until we arrive though," she assured me. "I'm sure he's waiting for us to cause a distraction."

"Cause a distraction?"

Rei chimed in. "We're not the only ones here, remember?"

That's right. There were others on this planet looking for the stone as well.

"Do we have a plan?"

"Mmm ..." Kiko thought for a moment. "Rei and I will take care of anyone getting in our way; you go for the stone."

For someone who was supposed to be a fierce, conquering warrior—that was a pretty vague plan. I just had to believe they knew what they were doing and focus on what I was supposed to do: get to the stone first.

I rubbed my hands together while chanting my role to myself. It was an easy task, and the most important. There was no way I was going to screw it up. Wait a minute. I stopped rubbing my hands and focused on the stone. If we could see the large stone from the distance we were at, this thing had to be huge!

I had to ask, "How are we supposed to bring this back to our ship? Let alone fly it off the planet?"

Kiko thought again. "Just focus on claiming it first."

I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. She had no clue.

We sprinted through the trees and brush, jumping over fallen logs and rocks.

"There's a group we're catching up to just ahead of us," Rei announced.

"No problem, we'll just run through them." Kiko took out her blaster. "Sarth, just keep running to the stone. Don't stop."

Rei took out her blaster as well, and the three of us sprinted through the jungle. We took the group by surprise, running past most of them until they jumped to their feet and began shouting.

"Intruders!"

"Stop them!"

Pew! Pew! The sound of blasters whizzing by us only made me run faster. Rei took care of everyone in front while Kiko would occasionally turn around to fire. Not a moment later, we found ourselves being chased not only by the humanoids, but by their pets as well. Ravaging, four-legged beasts with long sharp fangs, they caught up with us much faster than their owners.

"Go on!" Kiko ordered as she stopped to face the beasts.

I wasn't sure leaving her was a good idea, but I knew I had my own job to fulfill.

Rei and I went on ahead, losing all our pursuers. We made it to the edge of the jungle where we looked down at the humongous crater made by the falling stone.

"Well, this isn't good," Rei said as we looked down upon hundreds of humanoids and different species. "For some reason I couldn't see them here."

A horn blew from the direction we'd just came, and in an eerie simultaneous moment, all eyes were on us.

"Uhh, so what do we do now?" I asked, trying to catch my breath.

"Keep charging!" came Kiko's voice from behind. She didn't stop running, and she jumped to slide down the side of the crater, leaving Rei and me to chase after her.