Once the ship is secured on the planet's surface and seemingly not going anywhere, James and Jody head to the back of the ship where the supplies are, while Zoda stays in the cockpit for a second and looks out the window at the landscape of the beautifully wild planet. Feral creatures that have never seen a human before roam the jungle outside of the ship, seemingly peacefully. At least until there's a giant scaly leg that walks in front of the window, leans down and eats one of the smaller creatures in one bite, before walking off. Zoda watches this happen in horror, and bolts to where everyone else went off to.
When Zoda gets to the supply room, Gazelle has come up to join them, and James is looking through some boxes. "Please tell me you're about to put out some giant guns that can put giant holes in those giant lizards out there", Zoda says, genuinely freaked out for the first time in the other racers' company.
"Um… maybe not 'big holes', but…", he says as he pulls out a few pistols that might be useful for the smaller creatures that just got made into a snack.
"Oh, terrific", Zoda says, throwing up his arms in frustration. "Now once we get eaten by Super Godzilla over there, we can give it indigestion before we're slowly dissolved. At this point, I feel like you'd all be safer if I actually did have a death ray than you are right now, defending yourself with those dinky little water pistols, especially once Rodan swoops out of the sky and turns you all into brunch."
"Look, you want to know the best advice for not getting eaten by those big things out there?", James says as he hands weapons to Jody, Gazelle and Zoda (which Jody promptly takes away from him). "Don't let yourself be a target. Things that are 80 feet tall can't really sneak up on you, and have a real hard time bending over. So keep moving, stick close to trees, and if all else fails, aim for the eyes. Also, Jody, I know this is going to kill you, but we all should be armed for this, so give Zoda his gun back."
Jody loudly groans as Zoda smiles a big Joker grin in her direction and puts out his hand for her to place the gun in. She looks at James with a hateful sneer, and then slams the gun into his hand. "You know Jody, normally I'd instantly make you regret giving me this thing, but I want to save my bacon as much as anyone else, so… I'll be a good boy. For now."
"There's gotta be a law you just broke by saying that that lets me arrest you. Where's my GSF lawbook?"
"Jody, you read that thing for fun. You'd already know if that was actually illegal."
Jody freezes for a moment. "I can't even fight back on that one, that's totally true. It helps me stay up to date on new laws. Get off my back."
"Alright kids, let's get focused and head on out, we've got a Beastman to find", James says as he opens the door of the ship, letting the hot air of the planet hit them in the face. Their heat suits come equipped with helmets to protect their faces, and they all activate them once they feel the heat from outside.
As they walk through the vast jungles of this hostile planet, they're able to get a better view of their surroundings than they were able to get from up above. Most of the trees have canopies that stretch dozens of feet up into the air, incentivizing the animals to either get good at climbing or flying. As they look around, they see smaller creatures scampering up the bark of the trees, while other animals can climb, glide, or swing from one tree to the next. These creatures take notice of these interlopers, and either hide away from these potential new predators, or begin stalking them from a distance.
"Keep your eyes peeled for anything that might lead us to Beastman", James says from the front of the line, while looking at his map. "Footprints, debris, laser holes, anything."
"Say, Jody…", Zoda says, second in line. "You're not gonna have any problem with killing any of these big things, are ya? This won't break some obscure ecological law that hasn't been enforced since the 2200s?"
"No, this is definitely either self-defense or hunting", Jody says, third in line, in order to make sure she has her eyes on an armed Zoda. "As far as I know, Porix doesn't have any laws against big-game hunting. It's just that no one does, because the big game hunts back."
"Wow, Jody, I think that almost qualifies as a joke", Gazelle says from the back, since he can see anything approaching them, and aim precisely with his built-in laser sights. "Hey, by the way, why aren't we using bigger guns? Feels like you should have something that could actually take down the bigger predators."
"Big guns require big energy, and the planet's surface is already unstable", James says. "One errantly placed shot could make an entire patch of land collapse. Or worse, the recoil of a shot could destabilize the ground right out from under our feet."
"If the ground's that unstable, is bringing a giant metal cyborg a good idea?", Zoda says.
"Hey, I'm a svelte 286.4893 pounds, and I can feel unstable ground underneath me with the equilibrium sensors in my legs", Gazelle says with pride.
"Wait, really?", James says, turning back towards the others. "Well, then you should be in front to act like a minesweeper for potential pitfalls."
Gazelle's brush with death several years ago and subsequent robotic augmentations did some things to him psychologically, and he's more willing to put himself into dangerous situations like this. After all, he's already survived one brush with death that he had no business surviving, now he feels rather immortal. Because of this, he agrees with James's statement, and moves to the front of the line.
However, before he gets there, he hears something. He turns around and sees something flying right towards them. "DUUUUUCK!", he shouts to the rest of his team as everyone drops to the ground, and something swoops right over their head. It seems to have a long snake-like body, with giant bat wings and small talons that the racers are nearly on the receiving end of.
"Was that a freaking Warbat?!", Zoda says while staring at this beast.
"Whatever it is, it's coming back! Gazelle, out in front! Everyone else, move!", James says as everyone starts running ahead, with him bringing up the rear. The serpentine beast makes a wide turn back towards them and swoops down at them again. There's a patch of forest up ahead that's just low enough and dense enough that they think this monster won't be able to fly through. They all start booking it towards the treeline, and they all make it there safely, allowing themselves a moment to exhale and think they're safe. However, the beast tucks in its wings, and keeps flying right at them. It glides straight into the treeline with its talons out, and before anyone can react, James is gone. He's been snatched.
One quick brush through the canopies of the trees, and suddenly James is in the air, and rising. The flying snake grabbed him around the waist, so his hands are still free. He grabs his pistol, and starts firing at it, wherever he can hit it, determined not to be a hostage. The snake hisses at James as it can feel the sharp sting of several plasma rounds hitting him. They mostly just bounce off its tough exterior, but it definitely feels it when his shots hit the softer parts of its body. However, before James can hone in on those weak spots, the snake throws its talon forward, and hits James's head against its scaly lower body, knocking him unconscious, and making him drop his pistol before going limp.
The remaining three racers are stunned by what happened, and it takes them a second to even react to the sudden capture of their fellow racer. The first to do something is Jody, who quickly pulls out her comm, and pulls up a radar on it. "It went this way, let's go!", she says to the other two, before sprinting into the forest, trying to look at both her comm and the trees at the same time.
"How do you know which way that thing went? I can't even see it past the leaves anymore", Zoda asks.
"Don't tell James this, but I did plant bugs on all three of you when you weren't looking", Jody says as she never looks away from her comm or the path.
"What?!", Zoda says as he searches for where she hid the device on him.
"For the record, I could feel this thing on me the whole time", Gazelle says as he picks the bug right off his body. "I just figured that if you put it there without telling us, it was because you were trying to keep it a secret."
Jody keeps looking at her screen at the blip that shows where James is being taken, and they're rapidly losing ground to him. "Dammit, we're losing him. Gazelle, got any transformations on you that can make us go faster?"
"Say no more", Gazelle says as he stops and sits down on the ground, cross legged. His body begins to stretch out a little, and his legs form a bench large enough for two. He then starts hovering off the ground, with his arms forming handrails to keep his passengers inside this vehicle. He now resembles a wide two-person landspeeder that can zip through the jungles of this land quickly. Jody and Zoda hop in the "seat" of their robotic friend's lap, and zoom off in the direction of the flying beast.
Jody looks on her comm device and gets a little excited as she sees that she's slowly gaining on the dot. Thanks to being linked to Jody's comm, Gazelle is weaving his way back and forth through the trees, chasing down the dot fast enough for anything that might chase them to realize that they won't catch them. But just as soon as they start gaining ground on the dot, it disappears from Jody's comm screen. Perhaps the beast crushed the bug as he gripped James's body, but for now, a final high-pitched screech from up above is the last bit of information they have to James's whereabouts.
They come to a stop and have to consider their next move carefully in this hostile forest. However, before they can start to make a new plan, they hear footsteps behind them. Like something had actually been chasing them down as they sped through the woods. The racers ready their weapons, ready for whatever's approaching them.
