Oban Star Racers: Calling for help

Chapter 1: A new plan

The dry dessert air stung Aikka's eyes as he slowly advanced through the ruins of the last race course. His lips were cracked and dry, despite the many times he'd licked them in a poor attempt to keep them moist. After nearly five hours of desperately trying to look for signs of Eva in the ruined city he was losing both hope and energy to keep moving.

A gust of wind sent flecks of dust shooting towards the Nourasian's pale blue eyes, he held up his hand to cover them when a shine of a light in the distance caught his eye. Lowering his hand slightly he did indeed spot something shining.

"Eva..." He croaked as he started staggering towards the strange light. However the small excitement of finding her vanished when instead he came across a large circular slab of metal.

A deep sigh sounded from his throat as he banged his fist in anger against the metal, the following clang startled him. Slowly he knocked his fist against it again and he sound repeated, indicating that the structure was hollow.

"What is this?" He pondered as he walked around the side of the metal structure to find a gaping hole in the side.

"What in the name of the gods happened here?" He asked as he took a step inside and squinted to see with the little light that followed him inside. Cables and wires were strewn everywhere littering the floor and giant cracked screens covered the walls, finally in the middle of the sat an oddly shaped chair.

"Wait that's shaped like..." He paused as a swooshing sound accompanied by voices came from outside. The prince drew his dagger and slowly pressed himself against the wall next to the hole. He strained his ears to hear what was saying.

"What the hell happened back there?!" A feminine voice screamed.

Aikka didn't hear a reply but the voice continued as if having a conversation.

"I know that but why did it just start collapsing and how were you able to sense that something was wrong."

Aikka was confused about what they were referring to but a new sound caught his attention... crying...

"But what about Dekka and Eva?" A sniffled voice spoke quietly.

"Lainga?!" Aikka burst out without thinking and raced out the hole in the ship.

A fist came flying at him and before he could react it connected with his stomach and he doubled over in pain.

"Aikky?" Lainga rushed over to him and wrapped him in a hug, "Why are you here?" She asked.

"Lainga..." Aikka was winded after that blow and struggled to breathe.

"Oh gosh I'm really sorry you just frightened us... wait aren't you that Prince from the Great Race?" Ning frowned slightly remembering how Aikka had shot down both her and her sister in one of their races.

"You?!" Aikka gasped at the sight of the Inna bounty hunter. "What are you doing here?"

Ning crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her right leg,

"You know I could ask you that question as well prince.." She looked unamused as a shadow fell over Aikka and he turned to see Spirit's large form towering over him. The Phils stared blankly into Aikka's eyes as if analysing him before slowly placing his hand on the Nourasian's shoulder.

"Hello Aikka, Prince of Nourasia. I am Spirit ambassador of the Phils." A calm voice spoke in his head. "But you already know this so I shall move onto more pressing matters." He paused for a moment before closing his eyes.

At first nothing happened then something started playing in Aikka's mind like a video. It showed four forms falling into an abyss as rocks plummeted down after them and Aikka recognised all of them. Suddenly the footage stopped and the Phils voice returned, "I am afraid what you saw was a memory from less than two hours ago... I am sorry." The Phils removed his hand a walked away.

Aikka felt his body temperature drop and all the blood leave his face, he sank to his knees.

"Eva..." A tear glistened as it ran down his cheek and splatted onto the ground.

There was silence as the four all hung their heads in grief and silently honoured their fallen friends.

"They could still be alive..." Lainga finally spoke up breaking the silence. Aikka turned to look at her, his cheeks soaked with tears.

"No Lainga..." His voice cracked. "She's gone...Eva's gone..."

"No Aikka she might not be they might be okay we don't know." She pressed shaking him. "You of all people should know not to lose hope we have to believe." She stared into his eyes.

"Lainga there's nothing we can do even she is alive then how can we find her?"

"We find the Avatar!" Ning spoke up. "We were on our way to find him when it happened and if anyone can help them he can."

Aikka's expression remained unchanged, "Why would he help us?" He asked despite the fact that he knew the answer already.

Ning just stared at him blankly whilst tapping her foot.

"Well we could try," Lainga piped up.

Aikka turned to Spirit and sent him a questioning look to which the reply was unmistakeable.

The Phils nodded and started undoing the buttons on his jacket as Ning walked over to him.

Aikka turned and knelt next to his sister.

"Lainga are you sure we can trust these people... I've had experiences with them in the past," He asked in a quiet tone making sure the others were out of earshot.

The small girl thought for a moment, "Yes, with my life," She told him, "They've saved my life before and I'd trust them to do it again."

Aikka sighed and looked at the Inna and the Phils, "Well then I guess then I do too..." He paused and looked at her again, "Lets go."

The two siblings turned and climbed on Spirit's back, Aikka climbing on last.
"How far was the canyon you found?" He asked Ning as Spirit shot into the air, nearly dislodging Aikka.

"This is a lot harder than riding G'Dar." He thought as he grasped for a something to hold onto.

"Not too far especially if we're riding Spirit there." Ning replied, "Although I'm not sure how much further the temple is from that... we didn't get far on our first attempt." Her voice quietened slightly.

Aikka nodded as the wind rushed past, his clothes flapped noisily as the wind caught the loose garments. In the rush of recent events Aikka had completely forgotten how tired he was soon his eyelids started feeling heavier and slowly they closed and his body shut down trying to replenish all the energy Aikka had used over the past day.

Well hello again readers nice to see you all. This was indeed a short chapter because I want to introduce the start slowly at first so don't be surprised if there are a few short chapters to start with. Anyway I'm glad to be continuing from the last story and I hope you guys will enjoy what I've got planned to happen, so I wish you all happy reading and if you have any suggestions or I made a mistake please tell me so I can try and improve my writing as the story goes on.

Adios!