Brothers In Arms (UNDER EDIT)

Chapter 7: Racer

    Racer was pretty sure they were all going to die now.
    "We must avenge our fallen brother!" The red monsters screamed, fury bright in their eyes. "Death to his murderer!"
    The Biggulon had stopped shrieking, thankfully for Racer's ears, and a coldness had overcome her appearance, like an assassin readying for a kill, but Racer wasn't sure if they'd win. There were so many of them, all looking eager to spill blood. They'd most likely get shredded before he could do anything.
    Even if I take them all on and get the others to run, they wouldn't get very far. Racer thought. We're all going to be slaughtered and need a miracle to get out of this one.
    However, it seemed there was some luck on their side today. For as the Ancient Horrors prepared to attack, a yellow blur bounded out from behind the group and slammed into the nearest red monster.
    "You are trespassing, Ancient Horrors!" It snarled, ripping into the creature, who let out a screech of pain. "Prepare to face the consequences!"
    And then everything exploded into chaos as the Ancient Horrors leapt into battle, and more yellow creatures burst from out of nowhere to help their commander. Already it seemed that the yellow creatures were winning, as they soon had the numbers on their side. How many of them were there?
    "Run." Racer said to the group, nearly getting crushed by two battling creatures, barely managing to get away, glaring at the others who seemed too stunned to do anything other than stand there. "Don't just stand there, gawking like some fish! You've got legs, haven't you? Run!"
    "Where?" Al barked, not training his eyes off the battle. The poor Al Packa was almost crushed in the fight by a stampede of war had Racer not pushed him out of the way. "Where do we go?"
    Racer paused, and spotted reddish hills east of his crashed ship. It seemed lifeless and not where the Ancient Horrors or those yellow creatures might catch them, and while it was out in the open, it was their best shot.
    "To those hills!" He said, pointing in the direction. He didn't check to see if the others followed him, though he knew his companions were behind him. Babs were at his side, Al and Ana following his footsteps. It felt like the fight was following them, because no matter how fast he ran, he could still hear the snarling and snapping noises of the monsters that roamed this land.
    At last, Racer felt cool solid ground underneath his feet, unlike the horrible sandy plains he almost kept tripping over, and he sighed with relief, turning around to see who had followed, and if there were any casualties. To his surprise, all three Nepolians and the Biggulon and Blue Crayworl had followed, panting for breath.
    "I've got to admit..." The Blue Crayworl admitted, gasping between breaths. "I've... never... run so... fast before..."
    "That's the joy of running for your life." Racer said with a smirk. "You eventually learn to run like you've never run before." He deliberately avoided eye contact with Sunny, but caught Star looking his way, with... sympathy and sorrow in his eyes? Racer must've been imagining it, because it was quickly replaced with a cold glare, and he looked away.
    "What in the galaxy do you mean by that?" The Biggulon asked, tilting her head to the side. "Have you done a lot of running?"
    "That's why I'm called Racer." He replied, laughing softly. "Because I run so fast. My mother-"
His breath caught in his throat as he choked on the word. Memories tugged at his mind, trying to pull him in, but he shoved them back down, fear twisting in his stomach. After all these years, it still tore at him to remember them.
    Even when he'd been living with Sunny and his family, he'd never really talked about his parents. He'd said they'd disappeared, leaving him with Babs, and he could only remember his mother's sweet, singing voice and his father's loud, musical accent. He could also remember a shining city, far more elegant than Ginazi City, with towering ivory walls and fountains decorated with pictures of creatures never seen before. If he continued to think about it, however, the memories would fade into nothing, and he would be left in the blank, empty void which was his mind.
    "Your mother...?" The Biggulon asked, interrupting his train of thoughts. Racer was very tempted to punch or snap at her, but Sunny was watching him very intently, curiosity flickering in that cold, hard gaze of his. Oh no- I've said too much-
    "She used to say I ran as fast as a racer." He said dismissively, waving a clawed hand in the air like it didn't matter. But he seemed to remember his mother's last words to her, something that always stuck with him.

    "You must run, my little light. Remember those racers we saw, running that marathon? Run as fast as them, and don't look back."

    "Oh. I- I see." The Biggulon replied, looking a little bit uncomfortable. "Well, my name's Biggulon - I know, I have the same name as my nation, but that's a long story - and this is my friend, Brandon. He's an ex-soldier. I'm, uh, I was a sniper for my army."
    Racer did think it strange to be named after your species, but he mentally shrugged and went along with it. "Pleased to meet you." He said, still not looking at Sunny or the other two Nepolians.
    "Humph!" Brandon huffed, folding his arms. "I can introduce myself, you know. And I would say we're acquaintances, not friends, Biggulon. I was merely helping you get somewhere until we crashed." He squinted, seeming to inspect Racer, and tilted his head to the side. "I've never seen a creature like you before. What kind of creature are you? Not that I've met many different species, mind-"
    "Unknown. I don't even know what kind of creature I am myself." Racer said, cutting Brandon off. He wasn't liking where this conversation was going: it was all mainly directed at him, and the Nepolians hadn't said a word at all lately. Despite his bold, confident personality, he didn't really like talking. As a child, he usually let Sunny do the talking, but clearly Sunny was not going to help him now, not after all that happened between them.
    "Oh. That's a shame, and a surprise." Brandon said, sighing. "You really don't know what species you are?"
    "Yep, sorry." Racer replied, a little too quickly in his opinion. His heart was beating faster than usual, which was unnerving. Racer wasn't used to feeling scared. Probably because he didn't want them finding out what he was. If they knew, who knows where they'd take that information.
    "You know, my nation has something that could help identify what species you are." Biggulon said, jumping in. "I think it's on a recent system we colonized... I think it's the Grypif system, on planet Flevans. We can always go there-"
    "No, no, I'm quite alright." Racer quickly cut in, shifting his feet uncomfortably. "Honestly, I'm quite alright, not knowing what I am."
    Biggulon sighed, then shrugged like it was no big deal. "Okay." Was all she simply said. "That's fine. I'm sorry if I was pressuring you. I didn't mean anything bad."
    "It's okay. I don't really mind. I get those questions a lot." Racer replied, knowing fully well it was a lie. And so did Sunny. Why isn't he talking? Racer thought. That's not like him. You'd think he's ill or something.
   "How did you find us?" Racer asked, hoping he'd succeeded in changing the subject. "Did you just so happen to be in the same area as us when we crashed?"
    "Yeah." Brandon said with a nod. "Well, we saw you guys first. Since I also gave you three a lift," he pointed to Sunny, Ross and Star. "Then we saw you and your animal friends. And your smoking ship."
    The ground trembled under their feet, and Al began to whimper, his ears flattening. Brandon braced himself, and Biggulon looked like she was going to bolt.
    "It's just meteors, right?" She asked, her head snapping up to the sky. Racer felt a pang of sympathy towards her. She looked so terrified, though he thought that as a sniper, she would be a little braver.
    But they were not meteors. Racer felt the rumbling underneath his feet; a tell tale sign that there was something underneath them. He wanted to say no, but Sunny clearly had other ideas.
    "We'll be fine, Biggulon. We'll use Racer as a shield if things take a turn for the worse." The Nepolian said, finally speaking, a joking tone in his voice.
    Racer gaped at Sunny, more mildly offended than surprised. "Excuse me, but only I am allowed to joke about. You're supposed to be the serious one." He said, folding his arms. "What changed?"
    He was taken quite back when Sunny laughed, though it seemed forced, and looked straight at him in the eye.
    "A lot of things-" The Nepolian began to say, but was interrupted as the ground erupted from behind Racer, and everything went dark and downhill.