"All guards! Find him, you cannot let him escapes!"Luma shouted and grew angrier.
"And he can't escape!"
"What if we don't find him?" Amaan asked.
"We will find him and if not, I have one more trick up my sleeve to make him surrender." Luma said confidentially.
"And we'll shoot him on the spot, no talking."
When Tio fired a shot into the air, it not only caused a stir, but also created the perfect opportunity for Nazo to shoot the noose and release Perros. Bruno, who was standing underneath the gallows, grabbed Perros, who was unconscious, in his arms and fled to somewhere safe.
"It's really you, how nice to see you again, my friend." Bruno smiled as he ran through the street.
"But we have to hide somewhere---" Due to Bruno's size, few guards noticed him and immediately opened fire.
"Crap!" Bruno exclaimed and turned into a side street.
The guards followed Bruno into the side street, only to get shot back on the main street.
"Daddy's got the big guns now, y'know?" Bruno laughed as he wielded his double-barrel shotgun.
Luma noticed the dead guards on the street and promptly dispatched, everyone.
"There he is! Even with his dumb friends, he is NOT leaving this town alive!" Luma fiercely said.
"GET HIM---" she pointed at the alley, but another shots echoed in different part of town.
"What's going on?!" Amaan exclaimed in panic.
"Shut it, princess." Koon said in annoyance.
"How about you do something?"
"How about YOU do something?" Amaan retorted.
"I will... My time WILL come." Koon devilishly smiled.
The next shots were Esco's, but when the guards arrived, they didn't find the culprit, just the dead guards.
"Where did he go?" Guard #55 shouted and looked around the street.
"What's that squirrel doing here?" The guards surrounded Esco.
"I've never seen one here..." Guard #71 knelt down.
"Little one, you need to go out of town to get some trees." The guards laughed.
Esco immediately pulled out his guns and shot everyone except one guard, who he shot in the feet.
"I'm not a squirrel, bitch!" Esco shouted, ending him.
"I'm a raccoon." He smiled devilishly and shot into the air several times to cause more ruckus.
After a while, however, Bruno and Esco were no match for their enemy's numbers and were driven into a dead end of the city. Nazo was still successfully hidden on top of a nearby hill.
"Hand him over!" Guard #53 shouted.
There were so many of them that Bruno and Esco couldn't see the end of the street.
"Last warnin'." Guard #46 pointed his gun at him and so did several others.
They waited a moment and loaded, but before anyone could give the command to fire, rapid shots resounded from down the street.
"Out of the way! Bruno, Esco! Where you at?" A feminine voice came from the distant.
Bruno with Perros and Esco did not run, but laid on the ground and hoped for the best. It didn't take long for the cavalry to reach them, killing all the soldiers.
"'Sup, people!" Raven stood behind a machine gun in the back of the cart which Marco was driving.
"Hey~" Marco said in a shaky voice.
"Oh, poor Perros - tsk tsk.'" Raven grinned.
"What would you do without me... You'd be purely hopeless. You don't have to thank me..."
She looked at him, waiting for a response.
"HEY! Wake up, Rosie." Raven raised her voice.
"Shut up, bird. He's unconscious..." Esco gave Perros a worried look.
"C'mon Perros, wake up already." he added, shaking him gently.
"I don't want to rush you, but... We should probably head for the outside, there's still a huge number of them." Marco looked around.
"Okay..." Bruno loaded Perros into the cart and with Esco and the others, they stormed into the streets.
It wasn't long before they reached the main street where the execution was taking place. Raven was still in charge of the machine gun, but this time Esco and Bruno could cover her flanks. Nazo was still in the same position, covering their blind spots.
"This is the gallows... Take that!" Bruno lit a stick of dynamite from his torso waistband.
There was a massive explosion and the gallows shattered into pieces, leaving only the burning foundation.
"Go through the platform." Bruno said confidently.
"But we can't break through it!" Marco feared.
"Trust me." right after they turned and faced the platform, Bruno lit another stick of dynamite and threw it far ahead of them.
"Are you insane---" Marco shouted at the exact moment Bruno threw it.
The dynamite exploded and a cloud of smoke rose. Even the guards on the other side thought he'd gone mad, destroying their only path. However, when the explosion occurred, there was a small amount of time before the platform collapsed in one heap. In the few seconds they managed to fly through the smoke, with the platform collapsing right behind them.
"Coming through!" Bruno called as soon as they left the smoke.
"You ARE insane! Why did I agree to this..." Marco said.
"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. You look at me!" Bruno flexed his muscles.
"Shup up and focus!" Esco raised his voice.
The exit from the town was only a few minutes away. Raven asked the right question.
"Where are the Stars? Weren't they up on the platform?" she asked, briefly glancing back.
"They must have run off somewhere, they're scared." Esco laughed maniacally.
"I don't think so..." Marco pointed off into the distance, to the end of town, to a flat field.
"Shit..." Nazo loaded as he watched Perros and the others approach all three Stars.
Since they did not know about Nazo, they could not defend themselves in any way.
"You've always been a clown to us..." Nazo aimed.
"Amaan." He added, firing at his torso and scoring a clean hit.
--- Field ---
"FUCK!" Amaan fell to the ground.
"Sniper!" He added, gripping his wound.
Luma looked at Amaan's bleeding stomach and sighed wearily.
"Find him." She ordered, and at least a dozen soldiers wandered away, but there was still a formidable number of them left.
--- Hill ---
"Time to change spot." Nazo quickly stood up.
"Gotta find her, we need to know what she knows."
--- Town ---
"Nazo shot Amaan." Esco pointed this out.
"Nazo's here too?!" Marco asked in surprise.
"They all are." Bruno smiled.
"Catch me, Bruno!" A man's voice came from the sky.
"What?" Bruno looked up and held out his hands.
"Hello, there..." Tio smiled after successfully landing into Bruno's arms.
"YOU?!" There was a surprised reaction.
"Seems to be going according to plan.'" Tio looked at Perros.
"Hey, son." he nodded to him.
"No reaction? That's surprising." Tio chuckled.
Tio stood on the cart by himself and to everyone's surprise, Perros woke up.
"Huh?" Perros sounded, and everyone turned to look at him.
"Bruno? Where am I?" he sleepily added.
"You're okay, thank God." Bruno said worriedly.
"Don't be sentimental or you'll get shot, dumbass." Esco nudged Bruno.
"Old York. You're not dead. Maybe Amaan is. The rest is up to you to figure out." Esco gave Perros a brief enlightenment.
"Where's Anna?" Perros sat up.
"We don't know... Should we know?" Bruno asked.
"Who is she? Another rival of yours? Then the world ain't big for the three of us." Raven suspiciously said.
"Why are you here?" Perros asked as he slowly looked at everybody.
"Well..." Tio wondered.
"Not you idiot... he meant us in general." Esco said haughtily.
"How should I know you won't betray me like those before..." Perros said with a sad face.
There was a moment of silence, which was broken a few times by fire from Raven's machine gun.
"Look..." Bruno knelt down to Perros.
"We don't know what happened in the six months we didn't see each other, but believe me, the training we all went through was just to get on par with you. We're doing what we're doing for you because you helped us once... If you weren't the kind of person you are, we wouldn't be here. You have to believe in yourself because as long as you do, you can achieve anything. And we will be there."
"Perros, we would never betray you..."
"Let's... Let's get you out of here..." Esco sobbed.
"Are you crying?" Bruno grinned.
"No, you idiot. I have something in my eye." Esco retorted.
Perros slowly stood up and picked up the gun that had been left in the cart.
"You know, for some reason I thought once I lost my hat, that was it. The source of my greatness was gone. Your speech... Your speech gave me the boost I needed... Thank you. All of you." Perros untied his bandana and tied it to his arm.
"Let's shed some blood - no more mister nice guy." he added with a devilish grin and pushed Raven away from the machine gun.
"Hey! You can't steal what's obviously been stolen." Raven frowned.
"What do you mean?" Perros asked.
"Eh, I found it near some camp. I tied those guys up like pigs and sent them swimming with the fish. But I think I've met this guy before somewhere..." Raven thought deeply.
"Yeah, Gerald!"
Perros started laughing like he'd never laughed before.
"So you weren't up to it after all, old friend."
--- Field ---
"Is that?" Koon narrowed his eyes into the distance.
"Perros..." Luma said through her teeth and turned to the soldiers.
"Strengthen the defenses. Alert all the guards. Do. Not. Let. Them. Through." she fiercely added.
"Yes, ma'am." Guard #42 saluted and ran off.
Perros and the others have reached the end of town. Marco began to slow until he came to a complete stop and Perros jumped down and walked slowly towards Luma and Koon. Nazo caught up to them as well, through the dark alleys so no one would notice him.
"This is the moment." Perros stopped.
"Either... the 'rebels' go down, or you... the 'corrupted' stay on top."
"Guess what... I'll reveal the secret, it won't be you." Koon pointed his gun at Perros.
A soft rumbling began. No one knew where it was coming from.
"Your trick?" Luma asked.
"Not that I'm aware of." Perros chuckled.
"Perros! The whole gang's here... We are coming to save you!" Flora's voiced echoed from the distance.
"And we're not leaving without you!" Fauna added.
"TAKE COVER!" Tio shouted and together with the others tipped the cart over.
It was a long-awaited ambush from Tio's friends. It allowed them to finally even the odds, or so they thought.
First, Perros rushed to the others for cover and began firing on the soldiers coming from the city. Bullets were flying from all sides.
"Bruno..." Perros held out his hand and Bruno handed him a stick of dynamite.
Perros lit it and threw it to where Koon, Luma and Amaan were, but they hid as well.
After a while, the enemy numbers dwindled, but everyone on Perros' side ran out of bullets.
"No way, I'm out of bullets?!" Esco exclaimed.
"Anything in the machine gun?" Perros asked.
"We're all low on bullets. If anyone goes there, they're done for..." Nazo stated the sad truth.
"I'm not..." Tio looked at his gun.
"Perros, I'm your father."
"I know. I figured it out when I first saw you. Darren showed me a picture of you once." Perros laughed.
"Well, I'm glad to see you achieving your goals. And slowly growing. I'm glad you've made friends for life, so you'll be in good hands when I'm gone..."
"What do you mean?" Perros looked at Tio in confusion.
"Son..." Tio put his hand on Perros' shoulder.
"This is a farewell. I know I wasn't the best father, but... I hope this will make up for all the years I haven't been there for you. Wish you all the best, Perros..." He finished, hopping over the cart and making his way over to Luma, Koon, and Amaan.
"Hey, losers. I'm here, let's talk old times. Come on, I don't bite." Tio exclaimed jokingly.
Luma emerged from behind a distant overturned cart and Koon emerged from the other side.
"So my hunch when we split up was correct. Luma the 'lying fox', Haider and Amaan is still as greedy as ever... Somewhere." Tio grinned.
"Oh shut up~ Thanks to you and your son, we're in this mess, old man." Koon retorted venomously.
"If we're going to die, you're going to die."
"Bite me." Tio fired in a flash.
Luma remained untouched, but Koon slid off the wheelchair.
"Now you. Do you have a gun, or---" Tio growled as a loud gunshot echoed through the battlefield.
He stood still for a moment, but suddenly caught blood and fell to the ground.
"NO!" Perros tried to go to help him, but the others stopped him.
"Of course I have a gun, you moron. Did you really think I'd come here unprepared? Without a plan?" Luma pointed the gun and fired another shot at him.
"I was the queen of this country, I had everything. Now... Everything will be turned to dust!" another shot was fired into Tio's body.
"STOP! PLEASE!" Perros cried out.
Luma stood over Tio and furiously fired a full burst into him. As she was about to fire another, she realized she was out of bullets.
"You... bitch..." Tio used the last of his energy to raise his gun and pull the trigger.
"How could you... still..." Luma held the gunshot wound and slowly backed away.
Perros, driven by rage took one of Bruno's dynamite sticks and ferociously rushed at Luma, striking her with his fists.
"You bitch. You lied to me. To everyone! For what? For what?! For nothing!" Perros stroke her.
"And on top of that..." he sobbed.
"You killed my father, you will pay... you WILL pay! YOU HEAR ME!?" Perros lit the stick of dynamite, shoved it into her mouth, and slowly walked away to a safer distance.
There was an explosion and a cloud of dust rose from the ground. The soldiers noticed the massive explosion and their numbers began to shrink even further, becoming uncertain of victory.
"What was that?" Flora worriedly asked, looking at the explosion.
"We should---" Fauna stopped her.
"No, they need us here... But give it a minute and we'll show up there."
Perros looked at his friends and then at his father, who was no longer with them. Perros didn't care, he knelt down beside him.
"I'm sorry..." Perros took his hand and slowly began to cry.
"If only I were better. You could have been proud of me."
Nazo, Bruno, Esco and the others slowly made their way to Perros. At that moment, however, the wind dispersed the cloud of smoke and revealed the silhouette of a man standing there.
"Watch out, Perros!" Nazo shouted.
Perros turned to face him. The smoke slowly revealed his face. It was Koon.
"How are you..." Perros couldn't believe his eyes.
"Body armor. I'm a tactician, I thought that would happen. I thought of everything. Everything. Minute. Detail." Koon fired at Perros.
"ENOUGH!" Bruno shouted and lunged at Koon.
Koon shot at him several times, but Bruno didn't care. Wounded with many bullet holes, he got to him and knocked Koon down. He was no match for Bruno's immersive power. After a few blows, his face was unrecognizable.
"You are the worst of them. The WORST!" Bruno pulled out his shotgun, standing up.
"To lie to us for so long, I'm sick of you..." he used all the remaining shots into him.
After that, all three Stars were finished. Luma was blown up, Koon was shot into pieces and Amaan bled to death. The soldiers were reduced to a few dozen and were offered surrender, most of them accepting. This meant that the Six Pistols alliance had achieved their goal.
Perros' wounds were tended to by Esco, who later also looked into Bruno's wounds. Even Flora and Fauna showed up.
"Thank you for help. I really mean it." Perros sat on the ground as Esco was looking into his injuries.
"Think nothing of it." Flora said.
"We just paid off our debt."
"But don't, make us do it again..." Fauna sighed.
"Where is Rosa?" Nazo asked.
"She stayed back---" Fauna's voice was interrupted by a distant voice.
"Perros! Nazo! Anyone!" Anna shouted as she ran out of town.
Everyone looked at Anna who was running as fast as she could.
"Who are you?" Nazo said, but he wasn't the only one who thought this.
"Perros..." Anna was out of her breath.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Perros looked at her.
She knelt next to him, revealing what she brought to him.
"A hat? Why?" Perros asked in confusion.
"Thanks to me your hat got destroyed. So~" Anna smiled.
Take it as my apology gift..."
Perros turned to her gently grunted, hugging her.
"Thank you... Apology accepted." Perros peacefully smiled.
--- 1 hour later ---
"So... now that we've taken care of those morons, we need new people to take their places." Perros took a seat at the round table.
"Listen to me---" Perros was interrupted by Nazo.
"Just tell us where you want us..." Nazo smiled slightly.
"Yeah..." Bruno agreed.
"Well, then. Bruno, you take Westernfield. Your hometown, honestly, they'll love you back home." Perros said.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"And once you go there... Take Marco and Raven with you. Don't make it official, but have Raven help you." Perros chuckled subtly.
"Nazo, I want you back in Terra with Esco, Flora, and Fauna." Perros counted on his fingers.
"I know it's a lot, but---" Nazo interrupted Perros again.
"That's all right. I can manage." Nazo nodded.
"Like you could." Esco poked Nazo.
"Shut it, squirrel." Nazo chuckled.
"Then I'll stay here with Anna." Perros said.
There was a moment of silence as they exchanged glances.
"So that's it? The end?" Bruno uttered sadly.
"Are you crazy? After all we've been through?" Esco laughed.
"Yeah, Bruno. A summit every month. Here for at least a week." Perros smiled.
"Hone your skills, recruit new people. And don't you dare end up like the late Stars..."
"... or I'll kill you."
Everyone laughed nervously, gazing at Perros, who looked deadly serious. Which didn't last long and even him burst into laugh.
Their adventure ended with everyone achieving everything they wanted and dreamed of. Sacrifices were made, but every loss has its price.
THE END.