What will happen in this chapter? Read on to find out!

Disclaimer, I really, really wish I had these characters.


It was a few weeks since Rattlesnake Jake had dropped Waffles back into town, and being the simple towns folk they were, the residents of 'Mud' forgot about the ordeal quickly. But not Rango. He was still thinking over what the Serpent had said to him. It confused him to no end. He just couldn't figure out what it was the Snake wanted. He wasn't exactly clear when he spoke, or perhaps he was and it was just Rango's fear of being squeezed to death by his coils that distracted him.

In anycase, he thought back to what the Snake said.

Jake slithered his way to Rango, his coils wrapped around his tiny form. He whispered close to the Sheriff; "Now listen here, 'Rango', I'm going to be visiting this here town a little more often then I should, and when I do, make sure that there Lizard is around and talking'."

The 'Lizard' Jake refered to was Waffles, the local horned toad lizard who had a child like personality and mind. He recalled the day he was playing hide and seek with said lizard and Priscilla, and then he suddenly disappeared. Little did he know that he'd been kidnapped by the nutorious Rattlesnake Jake, who had just left Dirt with a terrified Mayor a week and a few days earlier. The Chameleon shuddered in thought.

When he questioned Waffles about it, the lizard was simply baffled that he was carried back by the snake. He explained to Rango that he was hiding under a rock about ten yards out of town and suddenly Jake found him and took him down a series of tunnels. Then they 'talked'. But Waffles refused to tell the sheriff what about, only that it was nothing important. Then Waffles fell asleep and woke up to the concerned faces of the Doc and Wounded Bird staring down at him.

Rango thought this to be strange. But Rattlesnake Jake hadn't come into town yet and he was slightly thankful for that.

Of course good things don't last long.

The rattling of the galting gun was heard from every corner of Mud. Rango told everyone to hurry inside and waited patiently, but anxiously outside the Sheriff's office, looking up at the Rattlesnake who seemed pleased to see him, much to Rango's displeasure. He tipped his hat in respect the legend. "Jake."

Jake gave him a scary toothy grin, but tipped his hat the slightest way downward. That was all the Sheriff needed. "I oughta ask you a few questions as to what you're-" Jake cut him off by hissing at him. "Don't think just 'cause you got a little respect from me you can walk all over me, Brother." And the snake made sure to put emphisis on the word 'brother'. He gained a satisfactory wince from Rango, and looked around.

"So where are all the town's folk?" His firey eyes looked down to meet Rango's. "It's a mighty fine day to be outside isn't it?" He chuckled, his tail rattled. It echoed through the empty streets of Mud. Rango, who winced a second time stood up tall. "They're inside, Jake. A-and you should know I won't be having to taking another soul!" He closed his eyes quickly and braced to be squeezed to death. It never came.

Jake was simply staring at him with the most unimpressed expression the Chameleon had ever seen. "That's it?" He saw the top of the Rattler's lip lift up in distaste of Rango's sentence. He obviously expected better of the Sheriff, but he wasn't the one looking up at a huge, legendery snake capable of squeezing him until his insides pop out.

"T-thats it." The Sheriff agreed. Jake barked out a laugh, circling him much like he did before when he disgraced him in front of the whole town. The thought made Rango shake. "You've got nerve, sheriff, you got nerve. But- I'll listen. For now." Rango was about to thank him when a familar humming came from down the street. Both snake and Lizard turned to face Waffles, who was picking up pieces of glass from his latest adventure- glass house picking.

Rango turned to look at Jake quickly. "N-now Jake! I do remember what you said to me a few weeks ago- but I really want you to explain yer point before you do anything-" just before he finished the sentence, Jake was half way down the street coming up behind Waffles. "...Rash." He finished, his old voice seeping through. He decided it best to intervine and followed the Snake quickly.

The coils were too fast for Waffles to realize what happened. He choked a little, trying to get his breath back. The horned lizard looked up to see Jake staring at him face to face, with a huge, cocky grin. He blinked, and saw Rango running behind the Rattler shouting 'Jake!' All the way across town. Wondering what the snake wanted, Waffles tried get himself out of the coils.

"Now I wouldn't do that, boy." Jake grinned crookedly, making the lizard freeze. "Unless you want ta' see yer ugly insides. Now hush up. I'm strikin' a deal." Before both Waffles and Rango knew it, Jake had spun around and circled Rango entirely, making the small chameleon's legs shake with fear. Jake could taste it on the time of his tongue. It only made his grin widen worse. That scared Waffles now, who was squirming around in the tight coils.

Jake's tongue tasted the air before coming down face to face with Rango. He grinned toothily, the fangs obviously making the Sheriff uncomfortable. But still, the lizard stood tall in front of the Rattler, and Jake gave him a little credit for that. Only a little. He hissed. "See here, 'brother', I swear," Jake put emphisis on the word swear to mock helplessness. "...that no harm will come to this pathetic excuse of a lizard. But Ah'm takin' him out, and he'll be back all in one piece. But, my price is one road runner."

Rango thought this made no sense. Pay Jake with road runners to have him take Waffles out? Where was the sense in that? He was about to question when Jake cut across him. "And that will qualify as one damned soul from this town." His grin widened. "Now ain't that a whole lot better then yer precious Beans or Little mouse?" He purred, delighted at how wide Rango's eyes became. Numbly, the Sheriff nodded.

"Atta boy, 'brother'. I'll be back after dark." He grinned, and dashed away into the desert with surprising speed. Rango heard Waffles' yelp but stood and did nothing. He looked down, feeling horrible with himself. Beans ran out, embracing him. Priscilla also came out, tailing Beans and coming up to Rango, taking his hand. "Weren't anything else you could do." Beans said softly, touching the Chameleon's cheek.

"I know Beans, but I wish there wus." He muttered unhappily.

Waffles squirmed in the Rattlesnake's coils, not used to being bounded. He still had glass shards in his hands, which might be a reason why his hands felt so numb. Now that he thought about it, he was feeling quite tired. He looked up weakly to see Jake slithering away from Mud through the Mojave desert quicker than anything he'd ever seen before. The movements Jake was making was almost lulling him to sleep, not the odd, numbing feeling in his hands.

Suddenly, Jake dove for cover, which woke the small lizard up a bit. Jake let the smaller go, snarling at him. "What happened? How did ya' cut yourself up so badly, boy?" His hard gaze almost softened at the trembling body beneath him. "Well?" He snapped impatiently. Waffles shivered at his sharp tone, and Jake did love it when things shivered because of him. Instead of thinking bad thoughts, he kept his eyes on Waffles, awaiting the explaination.

"N-nothin' jumped me or anythin', Jake, sir. I swear. I wus just pickin' up glass with my friend Ambrose. S-see, some dunk r-ran around town throwin' glass everywhere and we were pickin' it up like it wus a game." Waffles stammered. Jake's tongue tasted the air, and didn't catch a hint of a lie. He shook his head, at least the lizard told the truth everytime. His lip curled up a little and the smell of the small lizard's blood leaking from his hands. "Let me see the damage." He ordered.

Waffles shied away a little. "I-It ain't nothin', Mr-" Jake cut across him. "Now!" He barked, and Waffles whimpered and held out his hands, showing two deep gashes with pieces of glass stuck in them. Jake sighed, it could get infected if it stayed open like that. His lip curled up a little in a grimace. "Keep them digits open." He ordered. Waffles wasn't about to disagree, even when the Rattler's giant head came towards his, tasting the wound. He winced a little in pain.

Jake took no heed and dipped his tongue in and out of the wounds, flicking glass out quickly. It was a slow process to get every shard out of one palm, so he lifted his head and coiled himself to reach a back pocket on his belt. In his mouth was a bandage, and he dropped it in front of Waffles. The Lizard went to touch it but Jake hissed. "Careful." He said. "Do it after I've done the other hand." He quickly realized that Waffles had no common sense.

The horned lizard nodded and looked down at his palm, wondering if Rattlesnakes had any bloodlust. He quickly became panicked and squirmed away from the Rattler, pressed up against the coils that surrounded him. Jake looked at him impatiently. "What are you doin'? Yer leakin' ta death and we don't got time to play games." He snapped. Waffles whimpered and looked down at his bleeding hand. "Y-You don't get bloodlust, do ya Jake, sir?" Asked Waffles, his voice shaking from fear.

The Rattler's tongue flickered out and caught his scent. He sighed half annoyed and half sympathy. Obviously, he concluded that what ever he had been taught about Rattlesnakes was wrong. He'd have to teach him everything himself. Jake detested teaching. "I ain't got bloodlust boy. I ain't no hawk." He wrapped his coils around Waffles and shuffled him along so they were almost face to face. Waffles' face reddened slightly, and he held out his hand. He felt the flickering of Jake's tongue on his palm and shuddered at the pain that followed.

Jake looked at the glass on the ground in disdain. Why didn't the Lizard tell him sooner that he had glass in his hand? He looked back at the smaller, watching in slight amusement as Waffles picked up the bandage, then dropped it in pain, then tried with his other hand and did the same. And he kept trying. The Rattler intervined, rolling his eyes. "Open yer hands up." He ordered, and got an instant reaction. Taking the bandage in his mouth, he wrapped the bandages twice around his hands loosely. He then looked back to Waffles.

"Ya'll can do the rest yerself." He said, spitting out a piece of glass that must have stuck on his tongue. Waffles pulled at the bandages until they were good and tight, and beamed his thanks to Jake, no one else had bothered to help him when he cut himself before. Jake spotted something in his pocket and nudged his leg with the tip of the gattling gun. "Say, what's that in yer pocket, boy?"

The small lizard looked up, then down at his pocket and pulled out a picture book. "Oh, this wus my daddy's when he were a tike. There are some words in here, but I don't... that... I can't..." He strained, shuffling embarrssedly. Jake remembered that Waffles couldn't read, and motioned him to open the book. "Lets see what it says." He murmured, peering over Waffles' shoulder.

Rango looked up from the bar at Wounded bird's words. "What do you mean, 'he cares'? Is this like some joke yer kind use to lighten the mood?" Rango asked, quietly so no one else in the bar could hear. He knew the folks here were keen on rumours, but if this one was true he would not let it get out. Wounded bird looked at him with tired eyes, arm still in a sling from were Jake had shot him a few weeks before.

"He take lizard, because he care. Could see it from far away, not very obvious, but obvious enough." He spoke softly, taking another sip of the water that was once so precious in Dirt, and now so ordinary in Mud. Rango went back to staring at his cactus juice, changing from green to brown in thought. Jake cared...? That was impossible to believe. "He probably just wants something Waffles has, Deputy." He sighed.

Wounded bird looked down at him, and raised a brow in question. "Why you care so much? Means nothing to you what Rattlesnake do in spare time." Rango changed from brown to pink, and stared at the cactus juice like it was the most interesting object in the world. "What do you mean? I'm only scared for Waffles' safety, just as I should be as Sheriff. He's a good ...lizard." He stood, downing the cactus juice for all it was worth. But he forgot that it WAS cactus juice, and quickly took a drink of water to wash down the taste, hacking a little. Wounded bird cocked his head and watched the Sheriff walk out of the bar ranting and showing off his bravado.

He smirked knowingly, before going back to drinking his water quietly.

The question Wounded Bird asked Rango did play on his mind. Why did he care? It wasn't like the snake meant anything to him, nor Waffles. He rubbed his head confused. Couldn't he just be a nosey lizard? He paced for a while and watched as it got dark in the sky. He decided to take a walk out of town, but stayed close to the border. He looked at the Spanish Daggers, which looked at him back.

Rango nodded his head at the Walking cactus, which turned it's head back. He blinked, rubbing his eyes. There was something about the west... When he was by himself, it didn't feel like he was alone. Like something was always watching him. He looked back at the Spanish dagger, and saw it's eyes glowing. He was captivated, walking up to it. Enticed by it's gaze. The Spanish Dagger then leant down, and it's top touched Rango's forehead.

The sheriff's eyes glistened, and he fell to the ground unconsious. The Spanish Dagger, meanwhile, was up normally, and looked like it never moved, but had Rango resting beside it. There was no wind, and the sun set behind them. Rango didn't even stir to the town calling his name. Not even Beans or Priscilla's calls woke him.

The two girls ran up to him, and shouted for the rest of the search team they had gathered to come over. The Doctor was first to inspect him, and concluded it'd be best to take him to his medical room. Beans fidgeted nervously, and held Priscilla close as Spoons and Ambrose carried Rango to the Doctor's home. She tried to keep calm, the last thing Priscilla needed was Beans freezing up.

Priscilla looked up. "Miss Beans, whats wrong with Sheriff Rango? He's not usually this sleepy at this time of the afternoon." Beans looked down, and knelt beside her. "Uh, well, the Doc thinks Rango might've passed out from over exhaustion. It happens sometimes to everyone. The Sheriff has been workin' hard recently. Maybe too hard." Beans frowned and stood up.

"C'mon, we can go see the Doc and ask him what the hell is up with Rango now."