A/N: Phew. Man it has been awhile. Ok, I know you guys are probably annoyed I haven't updated in awhile for this, but I have a reason. You see… umm… there was Bigfoot. Yeah. And I had to fight him off to save the world and stuff.

Ok so there's no Bigfoot. I just got sidetracked with a bunch of other stuff. But here's the latest chapter for you all.

With their destination set, the five girls quickly got tickets to a flight to Mars. Trips to other planets rarely took very long, depending on how far away they were from each other. But there was still plenty of time for Ayumi and her friends to enjoy the scenery of space from the window of the cruiser ship flying them to Mars.

"Amazing…" Himiko said in awe.

"It totally gives off a Star Wars vibe." Melody mentioned. "This is awesome. Marcus would love this."

"It is pretty cool." Ayumi agreed. "I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I rode on one of these."

"It's a lot different than Alfheim, that's for sure." Kione noted.

Mai took a look at the other players on the cruiser. It was clear how outclassed they currently were in comparison. Their mission to go to Mars for this hunting event in order to get some cash for equipment was a smart choice. "You think all these players are going to Mars for the hunting event?"

"Probably. There's a good chance some are just going to watch." Ayumi said. "There's bound to be a lot of competition, but our stats should be good enough to compete since this isn't a big thing that attracts top level players."

"Any chance we can get something besides starting gear for our weapons?" Mai asked. "I just selected the laser sword option."

"Same here." Himiko said. "I've only ever fought with a sword after all." She looked at Melody and Kione. "What about you two?"

"I went with a dagger." Kione said.

"Well I decided to go with a laser gun." Melody said, showing her deviation from her other ALO friends. "I mean, I just had to give it a shot. Plus I used a two-handed sword in ALO. Laser swords just don't have that kind of weight and power."

"GSO has a variety of weapons." Ayumi explained. "I have some spare stuff in my inventory I think. It should give you all a small boost in the competition."

After scouring through Ayumi's spare weapons, each of the girls managed to find something they were comfortable with. Himiko and Mai both managed to get laser swords that had much better stats than their low quality beginner ones. Kione gained a dagger that was longer than what her starting one had been, and had a much better damage output. Melody was lucky enough to trade her handgun-like laser gun for a photon rifle Ayumi had lying around in her inventory.

"Aw yeah. Check me out with this bad boy." Melody grinned. "I can't wait to shoot some monsters with this thing."

"These laser-type swords are a lot lighter than I thought they'd be." Himiko said. A grin came to her face. "I can't wait to go deflecting blasts like Kirito did in GGO. I'm gonna be a total badass."

"You know you need his reaction speed to have any shot of doing that, right?" Mai pointed out.

The realization hit Himiko like a ton of bricks as she groaned. She was skilled, no doubt about that. But she was nowhere near close to Kirito, Asuna, or even some of the more senior members of Wyvern's Inferno. As Mai tried to console her friend, Kione decided to try and get as prepared as they could for the hunting event. "So can you go into more detail for how this thing works?"

"Sure." Ayumi nodded. "A section of Mars is set aside for this event. Monsters spawn all over the place at the start but after that, they won't. Each monster is worth a certain number of points, and the goal is to get as many points as possible. You can go and pick off weaker monsters to earn low points rapidly or go for the tougher ones to earn lots of points all at once. Once one hour has passed, the event ends and the points are tallied up. Getting in the top fifty gets you at least the amount of cash you paid to enter. You need to get in the top twenty to earn more than that, but the top ten is where the good payouts are. Mars does this event once a week so it's pretty common."

"So it's a game of speed in the end." Kione deduced. "What's the minimum we should aim for in the standings as a whole?"

Ayumi thought to herself. "Well… between what cash I have and the payouts… three of us getting in the top ten should be good enough to outfit you four with decent gear for the Great Galaxy Relay. I shouldn't have much trouble scoring more than most of the small fry that enters this thing. That leaves two more."

"Then let's have a little competition of our own." Melody grinned. "Anyone that doesn't score in the top ten has to treat those that do for a meal at Agil's."

"Heh, no problem. I'll get in the top ten easy." Mai said, eagerly accepting the challenge.

"No complaining if you don't make it in, Melody." Kione told her friend.

Ayumi let out a giggle. The four of them were so new to GSO, yet they were so confident. That was one of the reasons she picked them for this though. "Alright! Time to give GSO a glimpse at the team that's gonna win the Great Galaxy Relay!"

Cheers were heard all around the city on Mars as excitement built up for the hunting event. Standing on a floating device in the air, a female announcer called out to the viewers watching her from the monitors around the city and near the hunting grounds.

"Hey all you players! Ready for the weekly Hunting Games?" she called out with a wave. "We have a total of 325 contestants this time around. More than usual. Seems a few players are trying to rack in some cash before the Great Galaxy Relay. Let's see who has what it takes to win here though!"

All of the players participating were gathered in a waiting area. A ring of light kept anyone from leaving the area until the event started. There was less than a minute left, and everyone was readying themselves.

Ayumi looked around at their competition. Most of them were nobodies. There were a few top-level players she recognized though. Thankfully, they didn't need to come in first. They just needed to score well.

"Well lookie what we have here?" a player said near Ayumi. The Plutarian girl glanced and saw a large male Solarian sneering down at her. "What's a pipsqueak like you doing here? Did you get lost on your way to the playpen?"

Normally, Ayumi would have just taken the comment and stayed silent. But she wasn't planning on letting some no name brute think he was better than her. So she smirked right back at him. "Are you sure you didn't mistake this place for your cage at the zoo, you big monkey?"

Ayumi's comment quickly turned the player's expression to a scowl "What was that? You got a death wish, kid?"

"You'll have to catch me if you want to kill me." Ayumi told him. "Why don't we find out if that's possible once this starts?"

"Tch, cocky brat." the Solarian said with a glare. "I'll make you regret making me mad."

"Twenty seconds left!" the announcer declared. "Time for everyone to take their starting positions!"

Ayumi got ready to move. Around the ring, she could see her friends getting ready as well. Right next to her, the Solarian that had taunted her got ready as well.

"Here we go, players!" the announcer spoke. "3… 2… 1… Start!"

With that, the ring of light surrounding the group of participants vanished, allowing everyone to move freely. In that instant, Ayumi kicked off the ground. The Solarian reached for her, an obvious attempt to grab or trip her.

"Too slow." Ayumi smirked as she skillfully maneuvered past the other player's arm and sped away.

"Damnit. Stupid Plutarian." the Solarian growled. He quickly took off running, along with several other players.

As she ran, Ayumi turned around and aimed her gun. "Hope you like the present I left you all!"

"Ha! You think you'll take us out with that peashoo-" the Solarian's voice trailed off when he noticed the grenade right by their feet. "Oh son of a-"

Bang. One shot from Ayumi's handgun was enough to pierce the grenade and detonate it, engulfing the Solarian and all the nearby players in a large explosion. While they were dazed, or taken out for a couple of them, Ayumi sprinted away.

Plutarians were weak in terms of power and defense. But their speed was easily their greatest asset. For many, that wasn't enough to make up for their downfalls. But since her fight against Ghost with Ren and Alice, Ayumi had taken the words they had given her to heart. If you can't do something, don't. Focus on what you can do. She couldn't do much to increase her power, even if she used a stronger type of weapon. So Ayumi opted to using grenades. The pinpoint accuracy she had trained for allowed her to shoot them even midair. She might not be a player that could deal much damage physically. But a bunch of plasma grenades sure didn't have that much trouble doing the job.

'Alright. Time to start earning some points.' Ayumi thought to herself. 'I hope the others can do well too.'

"Alright, about forty-five has already passed! Let's see how players are doing!" the announcer said as she addressed those watching the event. "In first place we have Kingsman, a regular at this tournament. Right behind him are second and third place, which are currently held by Anakin and Lila." The woman looked through the list of players and took notice of something. "Oh, here's a surprise. We have a Plutarian currently in the top ten."

As she said this, the monitor cut to Ayumi as she took down yet another monster with her two handguns. She couldn't deal much damage with them, but wiping out lots of small fry was simple with her speed. When she encountered stronger monsters, she would simply rely on her plasma grenades to do the job for her.

"We even have a couple first timers climbing up the leaderboard." the announcer spoke. The monitors showed video feed of Himiko, Mai, Melody, and Kione each taking out monsters. "These four are in the top 20. An impressive feat for newcomers to this competition."

Many players watching were surprised by the stunning twists. First timers in an event doing well wasn't too surprising since they could simply be skilled players that hadn't tried the event yet. But a Plutarian in the top 10 was almost unheard of. Everyone kept their eyes on Ayumi as she mowed down enemies.

As Ayumi took out the last of the weaker monsters near her, she looked at her surroundings. Most of the other monsters were being hunted by other players. While she could get the killing blow if she wanted to in order to steal the points, she personally found that to be a underhanded tactic that she preferred to steer away from. So she opted to move on as she sped off.

'Time's starting to run out.' Ayumi thought. 'It'll be everyone's last chance to earn some points.'

After another minute or so of running, Ayumi felt the ground around her shake. She quickly stopped, looking around for its source.

'That's strange. I don't see any monsters around here.' Ayumi thought. 'Then what's causing… oh crap!'

Realizing what was coming just at the last second, Ayumi leaped away as a monster came up from underground. The force of the shockwave it caused blew Ayumi back a bit. She gasped in shock at the monster she was now faced with. It was a giant worm-like creature that had to be at least the length of a football field. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth that threatened to tear apart any who were unfortunate to come near them.

"Oh here we go players! It's the infamous boss monster of the event!" the announcer said. "This monster is special compared to the others. It's worth a ginormous amount of points but the total will be split up amongst those who damaged it, in proportion to the amount of damage each player dealt in total."

Ayumi kept her guard up. This wasn't a monster she could take on her own. She wasn't sure this was a monster ANYONE could take on their own.

"Aw yeah! The boss showed up!" a nearby player grinned. "I'm gonna earn me a ton of points!" He charged at it with a laser sword, ready to cut it down.

If Ayumi could bet money on how quickly this player was about to realize his mistake, she would probably have enough to outfit everyone with top-line gear.

The player leaped up at slashed his weapon at the monster. The worm quickly aggroed to him and attacked. He dodged the worm as it dived down at him. But he couldn't see it tunneling underground. Before he knew it, the worm came up directly under him, swallowing him whole as his HP hit 0 in an instant.

Ayumi wanted to feel sorry for the player, but attacking a boss monster like that on your own was just plain dumb. Especially if you were a close combat fighter that couldn't tank.

"Ayumi!" Mai called out. The Plutarian saw her friend run over to her. "You planning on taking that thing down?"

"I would if I could, but it's just too strong." Ayumi said. "If we had the others here, then maybe."

Mai showed a grin. "Well then, I don't think we have to worry. Take a look."

Ayumi turned back to the boss and noticed Himiko and Kione fighting the monster. The two girls took turns slashing at the monster to distribute aggro. Meanwhile in the distance, Melody fired bullets every so often from her laser rifle.

"Seems they had the same idea I had to take this bad boy down and earn some major points." Mai said. "Now how about we all take this thing down?"

Ayumi nodded her head with a grin. "Let's do it."

The two girls took off running towards the giant monster. Ayumi fired a flurry of bullets, getting the creature's attention. As it was about to go after her, Melody blasted it with her rifle, followed up by Himiko and Kione slashing it. Mai joined in with the two close-combat fighters, cutting into the monster's health.

"Just die already damnit! We're running out of time!" Mai said.

'She's not wrong. Not to mention, if others show up, that's less points for us.' Ayumi thought. She readied herself as she checked her available grenades. It was going to be tough, but maybe there was a way for them to take it out quicker.

"Girls, keep that thing pinned down!" Ayumi shouted.

They didn't know what Ayumi had in mind, but they decided to trust her judgement. Melody fired blast after blast in an attempt to keep the monster from moving around as much. Meanwhile, Mai, Himiko, and Kione surrounded it to keep it from escaping.

Ayumi dashed up a nearby cliff and leaped off it, jumping onto the long body of the monster. She ran up along its body, shooting it with her guns as she did. Roaring it pain, the monster tried to shake the girl off but Ayumi managed to stay on as she ran. As she neared its mouth, she leaped off of it. She stared the monster down face to face and tossed her remaining grenades at it. She then took aim with her guns and shot at its mouth. The bullets and exploding grenades from the inside dropped the monster's HP dramatically. It was clearly weakened as its movements slowed significantly.

"Now! Take it out!" Ayumi yelled.

The others quickly took the opportunity and went in for a full on massacre. Melody fired bullet after bullet while the others tore into it with their blades. One final skewer from them dealt the finishing blow as its HP finally hit zero.

"Phew. Finally managed to take that thing down." Mai said. "That should get us a lot of points right?"

Ayumi nodded her head. "Yeah. We were lucky we managed to finish it off before any others got here."

"Well we were working together after all. Most others would probably bicker with each other to try and get as many points as possible." Kione said.

Not much later, a buzzer was heard around the area, signaling that time was up for the event.

"It! Is! Over!" the announcer said. "Now then, it's time to tally points everyone. Who got the most? You'll find out in a moment!"

Ayumi and the others were teleported out of the field and back to the capital city on Mars. Once there, they all took a look at the leaderboard to see the scores. Ayumi and her friends all grinned at each other excitedly when they saw all of themselves in the top 10. None of them had taken first place, or even the top 3 for that matter, but they had managed to achieve their goal with better results than needed.

"Aw yeah! We kicked butt!" Himiko grinned.

"This should give us more than enough cash to work with." Ayumi said, looking at their collective pool. "We'll have to travel to a few different planets to get the best stuff for each of us though."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Kione said.

With their business done on Mars, the five girls began heading to the station to catch a ship to another planet. It was a little bittersweet leaving Mars. They hadn't been around long enough for them to properly explore it. But they still had the other planets throughout GSO to enjoy. That made things a little more worth it.

"Alright, let's go buy some new gear. Then, it's training time until the Great Galaxy Relay." Ayumi told her friends. "Let's make sure to win this!"

"Yeah!" the others shouted with a collective cheer.

The trips around the various planets to find the best gear for everyone took awhile, even going into the next day when they all logged in after school. But soon enough, everyone had the weapons and armor that they felt best suited them. After that, they spent as much time as possible coming up with strategies they could use, figuring out who was best suited for whatever types of obstacles or courses that could potentially show up along the way. There was no telling for sure though, as all of it was being kept secret by the admins until the day of the event. Days passed and their excitement for the Great Galaxy Relay only grew with time. But before long, the awaited day finally came.

The day of the Great Galaxy Relay.

A/N: Alright so it's gonna be time soon for the big event you've been waiting for. I'm going to try and get the rest of the chapters for this out in a timely fashion, but as we've seen I can't keep those kinds of promises, so no guarantees from me. I do thank all of you that wait patiently for the updates of this though. You guys rock.