Ack...I'm sorry guys...this one is gonna be a long one. Not that long, but it'll be kinda long...
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As the gate to town appeared, the two looked up at the Clakker on top of the gate and Stranger whistled. The Clakker looked at them, annoyed, and then opened the gate, allowing them to enter town with their bounty. The two hunters walked through the gate, Alex smiling at the Clakker, and headed over to the bounty store. Alex stopped and waited for Stranger to open the door for her and then walked through, offering him a “thank you” in return. Stranger simply rolled his eyes and walked through as well. The two walked over to the counter and Stranger hit the desk, causing a loud “wap” to be heard.
The Clakker that was working in the bounty store ran out from the back and sat down. He looked at the two as Stranger slapped down the wanted poster and folded his arms. The Clakker laughed nervously as Alex looked at her bounty hunter friend and folded her arms as well. “Well, ya got Floyd, Stranger, ah’m impressed.” He said, stamping the poster.
Alex looked at Stranger. Said bounty hunter looked at the Clakker. “Gimme the nex’ one.” He ordered, neon eyes glowing.
The Clakker pulled out another wanted poster and slapped it down in front of the two. Alex and Stranger peered at the poster and saw one of the ugliest SOBs they had ever seen. He was had a sombrero-looking hat on his head with spiky-looking armor and had a green jumper on. He had a smaller jaw than Floyd’s, but it was still large. The two bounty hunters looked at each other and then at the Clakker. “We’ll take ‘im.” Stranger smiled, tucking the wanted poster under his poncho.
The Clakker smiled. “Alrighty, then, but he’s a feisty one. Head out towards the water facility, he’ll be there.”
Stranger nodded. He pulled Alex out of the bounty store and then looked at the girl. “We’re runnin’ low on ammo, kid. Le’s go get some at the general store ‘fore we go.”
“Okie doke.” Alex shrugged. She and Stranger headed over to a building with a flashing “General Store” over its door and, once inside, Alex tugged on Stranger’s poncho. “Can I borrow the wanted poster?”
Stranger blinked, but handed it over. “Don’t mess it up, kid. I need it.”
“Why? I couldn’t forget this ugly face even if I wanted to.” Alex sighed, shaking her head. She looked at the wanted poster and started to read.
Stranger shook his head and walked over to the counter. He looked at the Clakker behind it and ordered a few of everything. Once he had gotten his critters and tucked them away in his pack, he walked over to Alex, who promptly shoved the wanted poster into his hand. “Looten Duke. Alive: 600 Dead: 200 He’s taken over the water facility and is chargin’ the Clakkerz for use of their own water. Head to the West Gate.” The human said then looked at Stranger. “Let’s go, Strange.”
Said bounty hunter blinked. “How’d ya…”
“I can read. This human has a good memory, too. I won’t forget this one for a long time. Le’s go already!”
Stranger chuckled a little and put the poster under his poncho. He motioned for Alex to follow him outside and then headed towards the west gate. The two reached the gate and waited for it to open before leaving Gizzard Gulch once again. Stranger and Alex walked for a bit until they reached a platform-type thing that went up a steep hill. Unfortunately, the thing wasn’t working. Both bounty hunters looked around and Alex let out a growl. “Well? Any ideas, Stranger?”
Stranger looked at Alex and then shook his head. “D’ya?”
“Nope.” Alex answered. Stranger sweatdropped as the human started to claw at the hill, trying to climb up. After about ten minutes of her falling on her butt over and over again, Alex stood up and groaned. “New plan?”
Stranger nodded. He looked at the machine and smiled. “Watch.” The bounty hunter pulled out his crossbow and loaded up a Zapfly. He aimed at dark purple glass and fired once the Zapfly had charged up. The glass lit up and the platform on the top started to come down. Once it had stopped in front of the two, Stranger flashed Alex a smug smile and the human stuck out her tongue as they walked onto the platform. Stranger simply chuckled and shook his head.
A moment later, the platform started to rise and Alex let out a yelp, almost falling off. She clutched to Stranger’s arm as she steadied herself. “That was…weird.” She said as the two stepped off the now stopped platform.
Stranger only chuckled and shook his head. He snatched his arm away from the girl and started to walk across the upper plateau that was slightly junky, with metallic scraps eroding under the hard brown dusty dirt. Dead rotten brush cringed under the hot wind as the two walked across the plateau towards a platform with a rope that was hanging down across the plateau in front of them. Just as they made it to the halfway point, Alex cried out. Stranger turned and saw the human holding her calf, which was bleeding badly. Stranger snorted an angry snort and looked around for the bastard that had hurt his partner. He heard a voice cackling and looked up. “A sniper!” He snarled.
“You won’t get passed my an’ my brotha, Stranger!” The sniper cackled as Stranger ran over to Alex. He loaded his gun again and aimed it at the bounty hunter, but Stranger had already picked up Alex and was running, the human clutching to his back. The sniper snarled and fired, but missing Stranger’s foot by inches.
Stranger snarled and ran over to the rope as the outlaw reloaded his gun. He scrambled up the rope and laid Alex behind a couple barrels. “Stay there until I get back.”
“Don’t gotta tell me twice!” Alex gasped as she pulled her pack off. She rummaged through it as Stranger unlocked his bow. He loaded it with a furry creature that had wings for ears and a weird looking nose. “Boombats…”
“Exactly.” Stranger growled. “He don’t deserve ta live ta see tomorrow.” He said before firing at the outlaw. The Boombat flew out of Stranger’s crossbow over to the outlaw.
The sniper put down his gun and yelped as the bat attached itself to him. He flailed around, but blew up after a minute. Stranger snorted a victory snort and then looked down at Alex, who was wrapping her leg with a bandage, a bloody bullet on the ground next to her leg. The human looked up at Stranger and stood up, wincing slightly as she leaned her weight on her leg. “So, up we go again?” The human asked, pointing up.
Stranger chuckled a little and nodded. “Why don’t you-” But before he could finish his offer to give Alex a ride on his back, the human pulled her pack on her back and started climbing up the rope. Stranger shook his head and followed her, ready to catch Alex if she fell. Once they reached the top, the two sat there for a second, but a yell interrupted their moment of rest, “Ya might’ve gotten past my brotha, Stranger, butcha won’t get past me!” The voice of another Sniper yelled before a shot rang out.
Both Stranger and Alex jumped to their feet and ran in different directions. The two looked at each other and then Stranger unlocked his crossbow again. He loaded it with a Zapfly and waited for the bug to charge up before he jumped out of hiding and fired it at the outlaw. The sniper yelled and fell out of its perch. It was dead before it hit the ground. Alex snorted and walked over to Stranger as he bountied up the outlaw. “An’ he said he was tough.”
Strange chuckled. “He did, but he wan’nt.” He said, locking his bow back into place. “Le’s go, kid.”
“I’m comin’, I’m comin’.” Alex muttered as she hurried to catch up with Stranger.
The two walked for a ways and then walked out of the canyon to a cliff, overlooking the place that had been searching for: The water facility. The place looked like a military base with water pipes that came from everywhere, but met in the middle of the facility, where a small shack-like place was located. Minions were everywhere in the facility and there were even a few outside. Behind the shack, a mineshaft was built into the canyon wall that was probably a way for the Clakkerz to get to town when they worked in the water facility. Stranger and Alex looked at each other before sliding down a hill and into a patch of reeds.
Stranger unlocked his crossbow for a third time and loaded a Chippunk on it. He added a Bolamite on the other barrel and fired the annoying rodent nearby. The two waited for a minion to finally get sick of its verbal abuse and attempt to squash it before Stranger fired the Bolamite, wrapping it in its webbing around the minion. He walked over to the outlaw and dragged him into the reeds before sucking him into his vacuum. The repeated this process until no more outlaws remained outside the place. Alex and Stranger walked out of the reeds and looked the facility over. “I’ll go this way for a way in. You go that way?” The human offered.
Stranger chuckled as Alex walked off towards the side of the facility. Hopefully, she won’t get in too much trouble. He hoped as he looked at the big wooden gate. The bounty hunter walked over to it and punched it over and over again. He heard the minions on the other side yelling “Someone’s trying to break in!” but he ignored them. Stranger continued to punch until he got tired of the slow improvement and pulled out his crossbow. He loaded it with Thudslugs and fired over and over again. When they finally cracked through, Stranger heard some connect with outlaws’ chests and heads and the bounty hunter put his crossbow away. He reached through the wood and pulled it open. Then, Stranger stepped through and looked around at the minions that looked at him.
Stranger heard a shot being fired at the bounty hunter ran, unlocking his crossbow. He fired Thudslugs and Bolamites at the minions. He ran up a slope and hurried over to where two fans were. The bounty hunter got a very sneaking idea as he hid, waiting for the minions to get into place. Two did. Stranger waited for his Zapfly to charge and then fire. The minions on the platform screamed as they fell into the fans. Stranger chuckled darkly and then waited for more, but none came. He blinked and turned around, his fist slammed into jaw. Stranger looked at the unconscious outlaw in front of him and quickly sucked him up before looking down. Most of them were unconscious, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long. He took the best of this situation and quickly sucked them up. Just as he went to suck up the last one, its eyes popped open and it fired at him.
Stranger snarled and jumped back. He quickly kicked the outlaw, who flew back and landed into a fan. Stranger growled and looked at his arm, which had been grazed by the outlaw’s bullet. He growled, but ignored the wound. A laugh came from the shack-like place as Stranger walked towards the center of the facility. Stranger looked up and saw Looten Duke standing on the roof with two outlaw mortars and…Alex! He snarled as Looten Duke laughed while Alex struggled from her spot under his arm. “You enjoy smackin’ my boys around, Stranger!” Looten Duke grinned.
Stranger snarled, but chuckled and smiled from under the shadow of his hat. “Well, s’not quite the party you an’ Blisterz Booty are gonna have smackin’ it up in that,” He spat on the ground, “cozy jail cell…” he grinned, swing his hips.
Looten Duke’s smile fell and he backed away, Alex still under his arm. “Blisterz Booty? Ah, no! You ain’t takin’ me back to him! I ain’t goin’, I got dignity! I gots dignity!” He yelled, running back into his office under the roof on the locked side of the
“Huh?” One outlaw mortar asked, looking at the other.
“You do not want to know.” The other said, shaking its head.
“Tear ‘im, up, boys!” Looten’s voice yelled, “Ta pieces with ‘im!”
The two smiled and lit the packs on their backs. As they fired, Stranger growled and ran back up the slope to under the safty of the two hut-like places on the edge of the bridge.
“Damn…I gots ta…kill ‘em then…rescue the kid…” Stranger growled as he loaded his crossbow with Thudslugs and Zapflies.
Meanwhile, inside the shack, Alex was trying to loosen the ropes that bound her hands behind her back as Looten Duke loaded his gun. The outlaw clenched his fists. He was nervous, but he wasn’t going to show it. Especially not to a no-good human. But Alex already saw and smiled. “You’re dead, Duke. My partner’s gonna come in here and kick your ass.” The human grinned.
“Aw, no he ain’t, human. Ah’m gonna kill ‘im and git that reward from Sekto fer yer hide.” Duke grinned. “He said ya had ta be ‘live. Didn’t say ya had ta be in perfect heath.” The outlaw aimed his gun at Alex, but dropped it with a yell.
“Step away from the human.” A female voice growled as Looten Duke clutched his arm, which had a Stingbee lodged in it. Both the human and outlaw turned.
There, standing in front of an open window, was what looked like female version of Stranger. She had short, red hair with bright neon eyes like Stranger’s. She had a dark green poncho on with slashes in the front where you could see her stomach and chest. However, unlike Stranger, the girl had on a white midriff underneath her poncho. Attached to her thighs, she had two what looked like gun holders, but in one, she had a slingshot. The other one was empty, probably reserved for the slingshot she had in her hand, which was aimed at Looten Duke. She had on a pain of dark green tights that were a darker green that her poncho and a black hat on her head with a belt around the top of it. Poking out of the top of the hat were two, triangular ears. The left ear had a single, loop earring while the right had two. She had a very thin, yet muscular body type. The girl growled. “I said. Step. Away. From. The-”
Stranager’s voice interrupted hers. “Alright, Duke, yer chumps ‘r thru! ‘S time fer ya ta do some time!” He growled.
Duke snarled at the two and then grabbed his gun. He fired at the girls before running outside to deal with Stranger. Alex winced as she heard the door being kicked down and bullets being fired. She prayed to whatever gods she could think of, real or no, to help Stranger. Alex’s head shot over to the new girl as she heard the jingling of spurs. Alex narrowed her eyes and started to scoot away, but the girl held up her arms. “Easy there, ‘uman. Name’s Dil. I ain’t gonna hurtcha.”
Alex stopped moving and allowed Dil to move behind her. She felt Dil slash the ropes on her wrists with her claws and then Dil pulled the human to her feet. “Ya okay?”
“Yeah.” Alex nodded, wiping imaginary dust off her shoulder. “Thanks. Name’s Alex.”
“Pleased ta meetcha.”
Alex felt something moving on her back and pulled out her Fuzzle. She huggled it. “Oh, Chomp! You okay?”
Chomp let out a purr and nuzzled Alex’s cheek. He looked at Dil and blinked, cocking his head to the side. He let out a small growl, but quickly retreated into Alex’s pack. The human laughed, “I think he warned you not to hurt me.” She smiled.
Dil chuckled a little. “He’s a cute thing.”
“Thanks. His name’s Chomp.” Alex grinned. She jumped as a shot was heard. “Stranger!”
“Stranger? That your friend out there’s name?”
Alex nodded. “I gotta help him!” She said, running out of the room.
“Kid!” Dil yelled, but growled as Alex ran out of the room. She reached into her bag and pulled out another Stingbee. She placed it on her slingshot and ran outside.
There, Dil saw Stranger and Duke fighting just above a couple fans with Alex running to help. The bounty hunter and outlaw were exchanging fire, both getting equal numbers of hits and misses, and kept getting dangerously close to the fans. Dil’s eyes widened as she ran up the slope.
Meanwhile, Alex pulled out her knives and started to throw them at Duke. “Leave! Him! Alone!” She grunted, throwing a knife with every word. The human snarled when Duke turned around to face her. “Leave him alone, you ugly outlaw!” She growled.
“Yer gonna wish ya never met me, ‘uman.” Duke snarled, walking over to her.
“Stay away from her!” An injured Stranger yelled from where he was lying on the platform.
“Hmm…no.” Duke cackled as he neared Alex.
Alex snarled and clenched her fists, preparing for a fight, but when Duke let out a cry, she relaxed a little. She turned and saw Dil firing Stingbee after Stingbee at the outlaw boss. Duke stumbled back, allowing the human girl to run over to her friend. Dil smiled as Alex started to drag Stranger away from the platform. She pulled out a rock and fired it at Looten Duke’s head, making him stumble towards the fans. Stranger groaned as he sat up. The bounty hunter looked at the female version of himself and blinked. He looked at Alex, who was watching Looten Duke, with a confused face.
“Don’t ask me, Strange.” Alex shrugged.
“Hey! You want him alive or dead!” Dil yelled as she loaded her slingshot with Stingbees again.
Stranger looked at Looten Duke, who was struggling to stand, and snorted. “Alive. The moolah’s worth it.”
Dil nodded and put the Stingbees away. “He’s yours then, Stranger.”
Stranger stood up and loaded his crossbow with a Bolamite. “Take yer last breath as a free man, Duke ‘cause I’m-a bringin’ ya in now.”
Duke simply snarled, but gasped in a large breath. He glared at Stranger, but the bounty hunter simply smiled and shot him in the face with a Thudslug, knocking him out. Stranger pulled out his vacuumed and sucked the outlaw into it before he turned to Dil, who had ran over next to the bounty hunter and human. “Jus’ who are ya?”
“Stranger, this is Dil. She helped me out when Duke was about to, um, shoot me.” Alex shrugged. She smiled at Dil. “Thanks, by the way.”
“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Dil smiled. She looked at Stranger and held her hand out, “Pleased to meetcha.”
Stranger looked at Dil for a minute and shook her hand. He looked at Alex, who was giving him the ‘can she come with us’ look in her eyes, and sighed. “Alex…”
Said human gave him a pitiful look and smiled. “Please, Stranger…you can’t always protect me…”
Stranger growled, but looked at Dil. “Would you…like to come with us? Since you saved Alex the least I can do is offer you a chance to join us.”
Dil smiled. "Well...Ya two needs someone that watches after ya. As bounty hunters ya won´t stay out of throubles.." She said, looking at the two.
"So that's a yes?" Alex grinned.
"That's a yeah, kid."
"YES!" Alex cheered. She smiled at Stranger and then at Dil. "We are the three amegos!"
Stranger chuckled a little at the youngest member of their group and then looked at Dil. "Welcome then." He muttered, "Le's go, kid."
"Comin'!" Alex smiled as she and Stranger walked. "You comin', Dil?"
"Yeah. I'm comin'." Dil said, hurrying over to the two.
The three left towards town via the mineshaft they saw earlier. As they reached a bridge, Stranger, Alex, and Dil noticed it was rickity and about to fall about. The three looked at each other and started to walk across when the bridge shook and fell apart. Alex let out a scream as she fell while Stranger simply growled and grunted as he hit the ground. Quickly, the bounty hunter stood up and caught Alex before she hit the ground. “Ya okay, kid?” He asked.
Alex panted as Stranger put her down. She brushed her bangs out of her face and nodded. “Yeah-Yeah, I think so. Thanks for savin’ my butt. Again.”
Dil grunted as she hit the ground. "Ow!" She yelled, standing up.
Alex and Stranger snickered. Stranger ruffled Alex's hair. "No problem, kid. Ya okay, Dil?"
"Yeah, I think so." Said female muttered, rubbing her butt.
“After you.” Alex said, motioning for Stranger to lead the way.
The bounty hunter smiled and walked in front of the human and their new compainion. He led the way to yet another lake in which they all jumped in, yelling something, expect Stranger who simply smiled. After a short swim, they walked out of the water and sat on dry land. Alex watched her two friends wring their hats and ponchos dry before Stranger stood up. "Le's go. Time ta-"
But before he could finish, the three were being shot at by three more snipers. Stranger went to grab Alex and pull her out of the way, but Dil had already grabbed the human and had moved out of the way. He unlocked his crossbow and ran over to where Dil and the human were hiding. "Damn. Outta...bolamites..."
"Zapflies?" Alex suggested.
Stranger smirked and loaded his crossbow with said critters as Dil picked a rock up. She placed it in her slingshot and then jumped out of hiding just as Stranger did. The two fired at the three outlaws, quickly knocking them from their hiding spaces and killing them. The two smiled and Stranger started bountying them as Alex stepped out of hiding. Dil turned to the human as she slid her slingshot into its holder. "That was easy."
Alex nodded. "Too easy. Heh. Always wanted to say that." She smiled.
Stranger smirked and put his crossbow away. "Town's this way. Ya two comin' or not?"
"We're coming." Alex smiled as Dil ran over to Stranger. The human pulled a very wet Chomp out of her back and snickered as the Fuzzle shook the water off of him onto her. She giggled and hurried over to her two friends. "Chomp's okay."
"Good." Dil smiled as said Fuzzle sat on Alex's shoulder and nudged her cheek, purring.
"Back ta Gizzard Gulch." Stranger growled. "Hope the Doc's in..."
"Doc?" Dil blinked.
Stranger didn't answer as the three headed towards town.
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There you go. Here's a picture of Dil:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40805217/ She's not mine. I put her in this fic as a birthday present for one of my best friends:
http://rmz-nemesis.deviantart.com/