(Author's note: I've gone back and done some proofreading and format changes to everything up to this point to make it easier to read. Let me know if it's an improvement. This is my first long-form story, and I want it to look good. Thank you for your support so far.)

Before the armored trucks could get moving, a huge blast of plasma energy shoots through the tunnel and blasts one of the trucks next to Jack and James, lifting the massive craft a few feet in the air, before landing with an earth-shattering thud. The unfortunate men inside that truck are sitting ducks for the ruthless Sabaku No Ei, and pick off anyone left inside. Guster guns it for the cave opening, only to see a bunch of Goroh's men pop out from the sides of the entrance and charge at Guster's men with a few large trucks of their own. Guster swerves to the right, and heads down a side tunnel of the cave. He knows there's probably a trap waiting for them this way too, but he's running out of options.

His men drive alongside him through the tunnel, but Goroh's goons are gaining on them fast. They seem to be lining the walls of the cave, getting shots on them from above, before pursuing them on jetpacks. James, Morley and Tucker, along with a few other men in the truck, all fire at their pursuers, however they have good moves, and can dodge their shots. Jack, however, is frozen in place, trying to aim at the men, but being unable to come close to the attackers.

"I can't do this, James. I can't hit 'em, they're too fast", Jack shouts in a panicked state.

"Ya gotta lead 'em more. Just like when we shot the cans", James yells back as he finally picks off one of the jetpackers, and sends him careening into the windshield of one of the trucks chasing them.

"THE CANS WEREN'T SHOOTING BACK", Jack screams back as one of the shots blows a hole in his pompadour.

"Dammit Levin, here", James says, handing Jack the 3D map of the cave system. "Go up front and ride shotgun with Guster. He could probably use this."

"Ride shotgun… I can do that", Jack says as he takes the 3D map and climbs past the gunners in the truck. He passes the map through the window to Guster, before crawling through the divider into Guster's cabin.

"You should be more careful doing that, boyo. Nearly thought you were one of those rats until I saw that hairdo of yours. I think they mighta grazed ya there", he says with an almost crazed laugh.

"James figured you could use this map", Jack says as he pushes a button and presses the map into the windshield, making it pop up on his windshield.

"Oh would ya look at that? That's a nice little gadget", Guster says as he leans over and hands him an actual shotgun. "Here, this works better up close. We're about to have company."

"Wait, what?!", Jack says, trying to figure out how to even fire this thing.

"What part of 'hiding shotgun' confused ya, boyo?", he says as suddenly, there's an attacker on both sides of the front cabin. The one on the driver side points a plasma pistol at Guster's head while he's still looking at Jack.

Jack shouts for him to "DUCK" as he dives towards Antonio and pulls him down. The attacker's shot goes through the cabin, over both racer's heads, and takes out the passenger side gang member. As a result of Jack diving on Guster, he yanks the steering wheel to the side and drives his truck into the driver's side shooter, sending him careening into the cave wall. They both look up and see themselves rid of their attackers for the moment.

"Just like how you drew that one up, huh?", he says with another strong laugh.

"You're enjoying this a little too much, man", Jack says as he starts looking around for wherever the next aggressor is going to come from.

"What's not to enjoy? We're taking the fight to Goroh's men. Givin' them hell, and sending them back to Red Canyon where they belong. Makes me feel ALIVE!", Antonio yells as he fires a couple of shots out the side window, hitting the front wheel of the hovercraft.

"Makes me feel the opposite of that", Jack says as he sees something up ahead. A line of Goroh's trucks blocks the entire road up ahead, with blasts starting to rain down on them.

Guster barely misses a beat, and smiles a wicked grin. "JUUUUUUMP!", he shouts over his radio. He then hits a button on his dashboard, and his enormous truck is launched into the air up and over the entire blockade. He lands on the other side of it without so much as a scratch. The truck behind them mimics the jump perfectly, but the one in the back jumps too early, and lands directly on one of the vehicles in the blockade. It obviously destroys those poor chumps, but it damages their own vehicle badly as well. He gets back on the radio, "How we holding up back there?"

"Not great, we've lost a few men, and Truck #3 is dying fast. We need a way out", one of the other drivers says back to him.

Antonio looks up on the map on the windshield looking for another exit to the cave. Jack sees another goon on the wall about to give chase, but he merely opens the passenger door of the craft and bops the gang member out of the air. "Not bad, but you know you've got that gun there, just beggin' to be used on these fools."

"I know, I'm… I'm not good at shooting at these speeds", Jack replies, happy with his excuse.

"Well in that case, you can at least be my lookout. Keep an eye out for me, I've got us a way out, I just need some time, and I can get us there", Guster says as he locks in and starts swerving through the caves, focused on leading what's left of his men out of there. Guster's flooring it through the tunnels, and is able to pull away from the big trucks pursuing them, leaving just a few stragglers left on their jet packs.

James and the men in the back keep laying in the fire on Goroh's men, but they're taking a few losses. Tucker's already been shot and Morley's been busy frantically trying to patch up his wound. James and the other men on the truck do their best to cover them, but Tucker's out in the open, and hard to move with his giant frame. Another shot from jetpackers hits Tucker, and he's beyond help. Morley goes into a rage and fires a huge wave from his plasma pistol, taking out a few of the remaining Sabaku members, but overheating his gun in the process, and forcing him to cool down and stew over the loss of his comrade.

Back up front, Jack is laser focused on trying to find someone for Guster to fire at. A few goons come up from behind, and he remembers some movie where someone says where to shoot with numbers on a clock. "Behind you, um, eight o'clock!", he shouts. Like clockwork, Antonio turns his arm back out the window, barely even looking, and he blasts the sneaky jetpacker out of the air.

"There you go, junior. More like that, we've got this", Guster says as he gives Jack a good nudge.

Jack smiles a little for the first time while on this mission, and feels as though he's finally contributing. He looks around the sides of the truck and looks for more goons for Guster to take care of. He finally sees one, right over their truck. "Right above us. Twelve o'clock, but like… upwards."

Guster has to think about what that means for a second, but gets what he means when the goon starts shooting down at the hood of the truck, trying to destroy the engine. "Ohhhhhhhhhh…", he says before taking his shotgun and pointing it straight above him out the window, and blasting the Sabaku member out of the sky, with him landing on the roof of the truck. One of the men in the back of the truck fires through the roof and takes care of that goon to make sure he doesn't become a future problem.

Jack keeps looking around and sees someone sneaking up along the side of the truck, outside of the people in the back's view. He grabs the shotgun, and holds it backwards, trying to whack him in the face with the butt of the gun. He gets a few good hits on him before the Sabaku member grabs the shotgun and yanks it away from him. Jack freezes a little, before Guster grabs him by the back of his pants, pulls him back into the cabin, and swerves the truck into the side of the wall of the cave, crushing the assailant and making him fall to the ground.

"You're holding it backwards, junior. We aren't playing baseball here", he says as he keeps gliding through the cave's tight turns.

"Sorry Antonio, lost your gun back there", Jack says with a weak laugh.

Without missing a beat, Antonio reaches down under his seat and opens a drawer. "Not to worry, bud. I've got like twelve more down here."

Jack smiles weakly as he reaches for one of them, but then he looks up and sees the map. "Hang on, we're almost out of the cave!", he says with excitement.

"Yep, but we aren't out of the woods yet. There's sure to be more of them out there waiting for us. Hold on tight!" Guster shifts up a gear as they've managed to do a full circle and make their way back to the original way they were going to come in. They pass the wreckage of the blasted truck, and Antonio swerves into a couple of Goroh's men, running them down. He guns it through the exit of the cave, and just as expected, they're under heavy fire as soon as the rest of the crew see him. It seems hopeless. They're wildly outnumbered and they have Guster and his men practically surrounded.

But then, seemingly from out of nowhere, a massive blast of energy shoots through the sky over everyone's head. The blast is ten times the size of the one that blew up the truck, and maybe more. Everyone freezes in place as they all watch the ball of plasma strike the top of the cave exit, reducing it to rubble in a fraction of a second. The three remaining Guster-led trucks manage to get through the tunnel before rocks fall on them, but the Sabaku No Ei aren't so lucky. Their vehicles are pelted with huge falling rocks, crushing some, and trapping the ones in the back behind a mountain of dense rubble.

"What was that?!", Jack asks, stunned by what he just saw.

"That, my boy, was the miracle we needed. We're still in this fight!"