~Chapter 3: The Fanged Bunnies Part 1; Luna V. Speed

"No. This can't be. Their crew was disbanded years ago."

Luna was in complete shock. Her mouth was left agape at what she was seeing. Meanwhile, cannon fire rained onto the port town, many townsfolk running in fear. The ship neared and the screaming laughter of the crew could be heard.

Hozuro looked at the chaos, unsure of what to think. A real pirate attack. On a port. He had yet to truly experience this. So far, he had only encountered minor bandits who thought themselves bigger than what they truly were.

He took a deep breath, focusing himself on the situation at hand. Now was a time to fight. He looked to Luna, beginning to try and calm her down.

"Well? Ready to fight?"

"Fight?" Luna said unmovingly, "We can't. These guys are too strong."

"What do you mean?"

"They're the Fanged Bunny Pirates. A merciless crew who've attacked this town many times in the past. I thought my father had finished them years ago though. Before he left."

"Apparently not. Looks like they just took an extended vacation. That doesn't matter though. He may not be here, but me and you are. Plus, they must have bounties. Meaning that they will be worth the fight to us bounty hunters. Are you with me?"

Luna thought for a moment. Her entire childhood was her looking up to her dad until he left. He fought these pirates all by himself and won. She wasn't sure if she could do the same. But she pushed away these thoughts and sighed. Now was her time.

"Yeah, I'm with you."

She readied her gauntlet, something Hozuro hadn't noticed before. She aimed down the scope of it, arm straight out, at the port where the pirates were beginning to land. She let loose a shot easily taking out one of them. She was certainly a damn good shot.

Hozuro charged down the hill towards the port, reaching low and drawing two scimitars, his weapons of choice. He grew a bit of a smirk, coming up to a group and easily avoiding the attacks of their cutlasses, dancing around them and slashing them down one by one. The fight was on.

Hozuro battled through the wave of pirates, bringing five down within moments of contact. Luna was behind, not missing a single shot. She kept her distance, not being a close combat fighter.

Both Hozuro and Luna held back that invaders quite well, at least, until a wind rushed past them leaving a cut on both of their arms. Luna turned back to see a humanoid bunny, a mink, standing there with claws raised. He was about her height and had a devilish grin. He opened his mouth to speak, revealing sharpened front teeth.

"Well hello there. So sad to see a pretty lady fighting against me. I never want to hurt them."

"You're in for a rude awakening if you think I can't fight."

"Oh sweetie. I'm sure you're just going to be nothing more than a trifle."

Luna aimed a shot at him firing as quickly as she can. She missed though, unable to read his movements. He zoomed past her once more, slashing her arm again. And then again. He zoomed around her, again and again dodging her shots. He kept slashing her, making sure everyone of them hurt. He would laugh, staring her down from his original position.

"You can't even hit me. This isn't worth it. Maybe I'll just-"

Just then, he was caught off guard by a shot to his shoulder. It nicked him since he moved a bit, but he was hit. Luna smirked from below.

"Gotcha."

"Why you little."

He rushed down, aiming an attack at her before missing and getting a kick to his back. It wasn't strong, but it was a hit. He slid to stop, looking at her aiming her gauntlet at him.

"I just needed to figure out your movements. Now the fight can really begin."

He charged at Luna, claws reared. Luna smirked and dodged around his attack, firing her gauntlet off once again, hitting his back. He turned jumping towards a wall and bouncing off to make a little more of an unpredictable attack. She moved to the right this time, using the small corridor like street to her advantage now.

She was able to keep her opponent relatively close, now using her grappling hook to try and grab him. He kept avoiding these attacks though, the grappling hook being just a little too slow. Soon, his attention was pulled elsewhere by the cry of a child.

"Luna! Help me!"

The mink was grabbed around his leg and thrown into a wall. He got up, wiping some dust off and regaining his balance, a likely concussion having formed. Luna saw his gaze and followed it up the hill a bit to a pirate holding a cutlass to a little girl's throat. One of the orphans.

"We found em boss. They're in that crappy lookin church up there."

The mink smiled as he looked back at Luna.

"Seems our goal is done. I'll be off now."

He launched forward, heading towards the church as another wave tried to push past Hozuro. Luna's face only showed horror, then something snapped. She aimed her gauntlet and let the grappling hook loose, wrapping around his legs before he even knew what happened. She followed by raising her arm up, sending him skyward into the light of the sun before quickly whipping her arm down as fast as she can, whipping him into the ground, knocking him unconscious and leaving him in a dent in the ground. She had won.

Meanwhile, Hozuro sliced down the last of this second wave, a small breath leaving his lips. The pirate dropped to the ground as he turned around to see what Luna had accomplished, which included saving the child and running back towards the church with her. He smiled a bit before getting launched through a few walls a couple streets over.

Luna ran with the child before turning back towards a rumbling, wondering if Hozuro was ok. She saw a hulking behemoth of a bunny charging towards her. It was 8 feet tall at least and beefed out. Her eyes grew wide as she pushed the child along, hoping she would reach the church before the behemoth grabbed her by the face and lifted her, a deep laugh penetrating the air.

"Gotcha didn't I?"

He reared his arm up, the laugh now shaking his entire body and hers along with it. His toothy grin revealed the same fangs that the first had.

Meanwhile aboard the fanged bunnies pirate ship, a man slumped down into a chair. He set a monocular to his side as he let out a sigh. In his other hand was a piece of paper gripped tightly, seemingly a wanted poster based on it's design. He looked out at the battle in the port.

"Of course she has to be in our way."

~End of Chapter 3