Well, here it is, the conclusion for the tale of the Masked Stranger. I'd just like to tell you that this isn't the end of the story. The tale-spinning ends when I say it ends! Now, prepare yourselves and enjoy.

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Night had set. The cowboy gang had spent the entire day tracking down the Black Bandanna Gang, but their search had turned up dry. They set up camp and built a fire. Oscar was preparing their meal for the night. They knew that the bandits couldn't have gotten far, but the tedious process was a bit annoying.

"Dinner's served," said Oscar as he passed out metal plates. Ike, of course, was already drooling over the steaming pot of stew.

"I think it would be best if we came up with a plan," said Dr. Rhys.

"Yes," said Sheriff Kieran, "I've already thought of that. I was thinking that we should-"

"No wait," said the Masked Stranger. "I have a plan."

Kieran sighed. "Let's here it."

"First, we'll need a distraction. I think the doc can take care of that."

"Excuse me?" said the doctor.

"Nobody will ever suspect you. You're waaaaaaaaay too innocent. Next, I hope you have some more beer Shinon."
The Masked Stranger discussed the rest of the plan as thoroughly as he could.

"I actually think this might work," said Kieran.

Oscar and Geoffrey saddled up and sped back to town. They promised to be back before sunrise.

"I still don't like my part," said Rhys. "What is they decide to shoot me?"

"If they decide to shoot you, or even reach for a gun," said Kieran, "they'll be dead first. I've got your back."

"If I don't come back, please tell my family…I love them."

"Give me a break," said Shinon as he rolled his eyes.

Ike ignored the rude sniper and turned to the sheriff. "I'm going to scout out further ahead. They probably set up camp not too far from here." He jumped onto his horse as road out ahead.

As soon as Ike had left, Kieran decided it would be best to congratulate the hero. "You know, you did a really good job coming up with that plan. How did you manage to do it?"

"It's my job as a hero to be smart…" started the Masked Stranger as he tried to hide a book in his saddlebag that read Smart Plans For Delusional People.

"Makolov," said Rhys. He looked rather pale.

"My name's the Masked Stranger."

"Masked Stranger…"

"If you're going to continue whining about the plan, I don't want to hear it. I put plenty of thought into it and I don't want some wimpy doctor ruining it."

"But…"

"No, not another word from you, mister. You need to be a man. Have some backbone."

"There's a…"

"What did I just say?"

"Yeah, but…"

"CAN IT, BUDDY!"

Rhys looked hurt but didn't say anything else. He took out his heal staff and got ready for a scream of pain.

"Masked Stranger…" said Kieran.

"I expected more from you. If you're chickening out too, I give up on you pitiful townsfolk." He stopped and smelled the air. "Something smells good, but why does my foot burn?"

"Your foot is on fire, genius," said Shinon.

Makolov jumped up in shock and ran around in every which direction. Rhys got up and tried to catch him. Finally, he gave up altogether. The Masked Stranger ran around until he eventually tripped over a log. Rhys managed to put out the fire and heal the foot before he could get up.

"Why didn't you tell me my foot was on fire?" he asked as he spit out a dirt clod.

"But-"

"No, I don't want to hear it. You obviously don't care about my safety and well-being."

Something inside Rhys snapped. His eyes twitched as he tried to maintain a calm composure. He clenched his fist, grabbed his heal staff, and walked toward Makolov. Slowly, he staggered toward him and got ready to make one blow, the one blow that Makolov would hopefully not survive.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," said a sleepy voice.

Rhys snapped back into reality. "Huh…what just…who are you?"

In the bushes, was a dirty figure. He was either half-asleep or half-dead. He yawned which showed he could breath at least.

"My name's Haar," he said.

"Isn't that what pirates say?" asked the Masked Stranger.

"No…pirates say, 'Arrrrrrg,'" replied Haar.

"Ah, so you are a pirate! Shinon, shoot 'im!"

"No, wait. I'm not a pirate."

"Yeah," said Shinon. "He looks more like a smelly old hobo who lost his girlfriend to some bad boy."

"You read me like a book," said Haar.

"It's a gift," said the sniper.

"So what do you want?" asked Kieran.

"I want your help. Like that guy said, I lost my girlfriend to King Komodo's sidekick, El Poco Frijole. She called me a lazy bum, and then left me."

"It's okay," said Rhys as he comforted the poor hobo. Haar burst into tears. "There there….just let it all out."

Makolov reached for him gun to kill Haar, who he still thought was a pirate. Luckily, Shinon reached it first and knocked the "hero" upside the head with it.

"Could you get on with it?" the sheriff asked the blubbering hobo.

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"Wait!" said Jill. "Let's get back to reality for just one second. Haar, do you even care that you're a hobo?"

"Not really," said the wyvern lord. "In fact, it actually sounds pretty nice. I'd only have to sleep and travel."

"You do that now…"

Haar fell asleep and slumped against Jill's shoulder. He snored happily and began dreaming about life as a hobo. Jill sighed. "Never mind…continue."

"Thank you," said Makolov. "Now, as I was saying…"

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"Could you get on with it?" asked the sheriff.

"I-I'm sorry," said Haar. "I want you to help Jill. Please, nicely knock some sense into her."

"We'll try our best," said Rhys.

"Thank you." Haar smiled until his gaze shifted to the pot of food over the fire. "Is that stew?"

"Yep," said the doctor. "Help yourself."

Haar the hobo happily grabbed a plate and took heaping helping of Oscar's stew.

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"Now," said Makolov as his narration tone turned slightly ominous, "lets take a look at the Black Bandanna Gang…"

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The evil bandits too, sat around a fire enjoying themselves. Astrid was sitting next to King Komodo himself. He was bald, but on his face was the biggest mustache ever! He constantly twirled it, even when he was talking. Out of the bandits, he was definitely the biggest. His boot was big enough to stuff Frijole's head into.

La Flora Roja was feeding her wyvern which was happily wagging her tail. However, when Gunsmoke tried to get to the barrel it was guarding, it nearly took his hand off.

"Good girl," said Flora.

Gunsmoke scooted back and hid behind Saber. Even if King Komodo was the biggest, Saber was a close second. He cracked his knuckles defensively and stared the wyvern down.

Frijole was seated right next to King Komodo, fingering his pistols. Occasionally, he would fire one at a squirrel or glass bottle. Mariposa had the same idea. She too took the opportunity to torture the unsuspecting wild life with her whip. Finally, Sandstorm was reading one of his books, trying to block out the annoyances of the world.

"Hey, Sandstorm," said Gunsmoke. "I bet I can git that rabbit all the way out there."

"Good for you," replied Sandstorm sarcastically.

"Watch!" Gunsmoke pointed his fingers in the shape of an imaginary gun and "fired" it. The rabbit out in the grassy field burst into flames and ran away at the speed of light. "Beat that!"

"If I must…" Sandstorm continued to read his book; however, the wind started to pick up. A giant whirling tornado came towards the camp and uprooted a tree. Just before the gale stopped, it dropped the tree a hair's width from Gunsmoke's body.

The dirty bandit was frozen with fear. "H-how did you…?"

Sandstorm ignored him.

"Forgit you!" He smiled playfully and got ready to set Sandstorm's book on fire.

"Don't even think about it."

"MAKE ME!"

He got ready to pull the imaginary trigger, but an abnormally strong gust knocked him down. He ended up shooting a bird as it flew by.

"You dirty…" Gunsmoke got up and tried to strangle Sandstorm, but Saber's massive muscles stopped him.

"Calm down small one," he said.

"But he just…"

Saber glared down at the small bandit. In return, Gunsmoke whimpered and ran up the tree that nearly killed him. Saber relaxed his glare and returned to cracking his knuckles.

"BE QUIET!" yelled King Komodo.

Instantly, everyone settled down and froze. When the king spoke, everyone listened, or else.

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"You ended up like Makolov," said Marcia.

"MY STORY!" yelled Makolov. "STAY OUT!"

"Fine…"

"Now where was I…?"

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When the king spoke, everyone listened.

"Ya'll is gonna' attract every do-gooder within twenty miles of this 'ere place. Shut yer traps!" he yelled.

"Yes sir," everyone said simultaneously.

"That's more like it. Hey, Sandstorm, how much money did we bag today?"

"It wasn't our best, but pretty good. We got around 500 gold."

"It'll have to do. Ya'll may continue whatever you were doin,' just don't get yer blood all over the place. I don't wan anyone trailin' us."

Gunsmoke didn't dare come out of the safety of his tree. Everyone else scooted away from the king and went on with their business.

MEANWHILE…

Ike spotted the flaming rabbit. He knew the bandits couldn't weren't too far away. After riding about half a mile north, he found their camp and Lady Astrid with it. Satisfied, he rode away back to camp.

THE NEXT DAY…

Geoffrey and Oscar had arrived just as twilight appeared. They each pulled a small sleigh carrying three huge beer barrels.

"I like this plan," said Shinon.

"It's not for drinking," said Kieran. "Ike said their camp is about four miles north of here. We need to hurry before they decide to split."

They rode in that direction and prepared to bring an end to the Black Bandanna's reign of terror. They arrived near the camp site and started to set up the beer barrels in a large circle. The Masked Stranger pulled Rhys to the side and decided to give him a poorly planned pep-talk.

"Now, I have absolutely no faith in you whatsoever, but everyone seems to believe you can do this," he started. "Not only does the life of Lady Astrid lie in your hands, but ours as well. Try not to think about messing up. If you do, it could very well lead us all to our deaths. No pressure! Now, I do have some advice for you."

Rhys was pale. "I think I'd better go talk to Kieran."

"No wait! It's good advice!"

"Okay…"

"Just act dumb. Make them think you have no clue what's going on. They won't know what hit 'em!"

"That actually might work…Thanks."

"Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes…what is it?"

"Don't get shot…or panic. Panicking usually leads to death and getting shot really hurts, then you'll probably die. Dying is bad."

"Thank you for your wise words or wisdom," said the doctor sarcastically. "What would I possibly do without it?"

"You'd probably die and doom us all without it I reckon."

"Never mind…"

"It's time, Rhys," said Kieran. "Are you ready?"

"Define…ready."

"Just go!" yelled the Masked Stranger. He shoved the poor doctor out into the field. The Black Bandanna Gang stared at Rhys as he staggered forward. King Komodo raised an eyebrow.

"You want I should shoot 'im boss?" asked Frijole.

"No…wait," said the king.

Rhys walked straight up to the gang and took a seat on one of the logs. "Hello," he said smiling.

"…Hello…" replied the bandits.

"Nice day…"

"What do you want?!" yelled Gunsmoke down from the tree. "We ain't no bandits if that's what yer thinkin'!"

Mariposa grabbed Gunsmoke's foot with her whip and dragged him out of the tree. After he had managed to get his face out of the dirt, she kicked him back down and made sure he stayed there.

"Be quiet or I kill you," she said.

"What do ya' need stranger?" asked King Komodo cheerfully.

"Actually, I'm lost," said Rhys. "I'm looking for Lincoln County. My brother lives there and I was worried about him, what with a war goin' on and all."

"What's Lincoln County?" asked Gunsmoke.

"A county in New Mexico, genius," replied Sandstorm.

"Exactly," said Rhys. "Could you folks point me in the right direction?"

"New Mexico's on another continent entirely," said Sandstorm. "I'd tell you to head west, but you'd just drown."

"Stupid Indian guides," muttered the doctor.

"What was that?" asked Frijole.

"I had hired some raven Indians to be my guides, but they ended up knocking me out and stealing my solid gold watch."

"Why would you hire them stinkin' bird brains in the first place?" asked Flora.

"Search me."

"This nut job's a piece of work," said Frijole to the boss.

"I know. He's not suspicious at all."

Rhys kept talking about anything that could come to mind. He just needed to keep the bandits occupied. "And that's when my sister got carried away by a giant buzzard, leaving me and my brother to fend for ourselves…" The only reason King Komodo let Rhys stay was because he was entertaining.

"Tell me more about your brother," said Mariposa dreamily.

"Uh…His name is…Orlando…He's a performer and like to…act. He's also a skilled archer and has long blonde hair."

"And your name is…"

"Me? Oh, I'm John…O'Markawitz…"

"John O'Markawitz?"

"My parents were Russian…and Irish…"

"But your brother's name isn't-"started Flora.

"My father was half British."

"You're right," said King Komodo to his sidekick. "This guy is a piece of work."

Rhys kept blabbing about anything he could think of from his "imaginary" fear of mysterious masked idiots to why you should never cook bacon without a shirt on.

MEANWHILE…

"I didn't think he could do it," said the Masked Stranger.

"Are the barrels set up?" Kieran asked Geoffrey.

"Yep," replied the bartender. "Shinon, Boyd, and that hobo are ready whenever you are."

Kieran turned to the Masked Stranger. "Well…It's yer' call. What do ya' say?"

The Masked Stranger paused. He tightened his black Zorro mask and said, "Saddle up boys…"

The cowboys happed onto their horse hollerin' and yippin! The rode into the bandit's camp and circled around it.

"It's an ambush!" yelled King Komodo. "Kill the doctor!"

"I don't think so," said Rhys. He grabbed his heal staff and swung. He hit the bandit leader in the back of the head and sent him flying into a ditch.

"What a pain," said Sandstorm as he stood up. He prepared a spell.

"Oh no you don't," said the Masked Stranger. "Shinon, FIRE ONE!"

From a fair distance, the red-haired sniper shot a flaming arrow into the first beer barrel. The force of the explosion shook the ground causing Sandstorm to trip backwards over the sleeping Gunsmoke.

"Hey doc!" The Masked Stranger threw him a bundle of rope. "Start tyin'!"

Saber's eyes turned bright red. He charged at the nearest cowboy, which happened to be Oscar, with a look of death on his face. No on injured Gunsmoke, except for him.

"Boyd, FIRE TWO!" yelled the Masked Stranger.

The deputy grabbed a match and lit another barrel hidden in the grass behind Saber. Boyd didn't have enough time to run so the blast knocked him into a prairie dog town. Saber fell forward which gave Oscar enough time to lasso him up, several times.

"And then there were three…" said Kieran. He eyed Frijole. "It's time for revenge, mi compadre…" He adjusted his hat and charged towards the small bandit, but Mariposa and Flora had other thoughts.

"Git away from my man!" yelled Mariposa. She cracked her whip in the air and nearly took the sheriff's head off. Oscar managed to lasso Mariposa's whip hand and drag her through the dirt.

"This is for Mist and Rolf!" he yelled.

Flora hopped onto her wyvern. It roared ferociously and bared its fangs at the heroes. Their horses backed down and whinnied.

"Hobo!" yelled the Masked Stranger.

"Say it," said the red-haired bandit. "I dare ya."

The Masked Stranger smiled. "Fire…three…"

Haar flinched and lit the last barrel. "Forgive me, my love," he said.

This blast was right next to the wyvern. It was so powerful that it shot the beast three miles into the sky with Flora still of its back.

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"Did it ever come down?" asked Rolf.

Makolov thought for a moment. "Yes…but the wyvern was so scared after that experience that it never flew again."

"How sad…" said Jill.

"Come on!" yelled Mist. "Finish it! I need to know what happens!"

"Next…"continued the pink-haired paladin, "only Frijole and his silver pistols stood between out heroes and victory."

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"You ain't getting' through me!" he yelled. He grabbed the fair Lady Astrid and drew them guns of his.

"This could be a problem," said the Masked Stranger.

"Do you hear that?" asked Geoffrey. There was something that sounded like tiny screaming; however, it was getting closer every second.

"Yeah…" said Shinon. "It sounds like the screaming of an ex-bandit wyvern rider who regrets dumping her boyfriend for someone much shorter than her, falling from the sky."

Then, just as Shinon had predicted, Jill and her wyvern came falling out of the clouds, crushing Frijole.

"That was convenient," said the Masked Stranger. He rode up on his white horse and swept Astrid off her feet.

"Thank you for rescuing me," she said.

"It's no problem, little lady," said the Masked Stranger. "It's all in a day's work."

"My hero!" And with that Astrid pecked the hero lightly on the cheek.

"Aw…shucks…"

"Excuse me," said Rhys. "Mr. Hero, don't we have some unmasking to do?"

The hero snapped back to reality. "Why don't you do the honors?"

The doctor's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Sure, now hurry before I change my mind."

Rhys saluted the hero and got to work. First, he went up to the leader. "Let's see who's really behind the bandanna, King Komodo." He dramatically ripped off the King's mask to reveal…

"KING DHEGINSEA!" everyone gasped simultaneously.

"Yeah…what zit to ya'?" he grumbled.

"I thought you said you were neutral," said Geoffrey.

"I say a lot of things…"

"But why?" asked Kieran.

"I did it to pursue my youthful dreams. My father never let me have any fun and now I'm letting my anger out in a spasm of intense fury and rage."

"Moving on…" said Rhys. "He went over to the threesome tied together, Sandstorm, Gunsmoke, and Saber.

"Touch me, you die," said Sandstorm.

"Shuddup!" yelled Gunsmoke. "I've had enough of yer attitude!"

"Well, I've had enough of yer smell. Have you ever heard of soap?"

"BATHIN' IS FYR YELLERBELLIES!!!"

"Quiet both of you!" yelled Saber. He looked at Rhys. "Git this over with and throw me into a dark cell away from these two chatter monkeys."

"Okay…" Rhys ripped off Sandstorms' bandanna then Gunsmoke's.

"SOREN?! TORMOD?!"

"This is getting weird," said Oscar.

"Soren?" asked Ike with a tear in his eye. "Why?"

"I have no idea… I just had the strangest urge to turn evil… It's like there's some great entity controlling our every move."

"I'm disappointed in you."

"Figures…"

Kieran looked at Saber curiously "If that's Tormod, you must be Maurim."

"You think it would be obvious," said the tiger. "Saber, saber-toothed tiger…"

"Yeah…that does make sense…" Kieran slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. Stupid must be contagious. Hanging around with the Masked Stranger was getting to him.

"I'd like to thank you," said Haar the hobo as he held Jill close. "Without your help, I would have never gotten my girl back."

"I'm sorry I left you," said Jill. She was still slightly crispy from her fall, mainly from when she reentered the atmosphere.

"All is forgiven my love…"

"But the law doesn't work that way," said Kieran as he held up a pair of handcuffs.

"Funny story about that," said Haar. He paused. "You won't take us alive suckers!" He picked up Jill and ran away as fast as his scrawny hobo legs could carry him.

"They're getting away!" said Ike.

"I think we can this one slide," said Kieran.

"I'll get 'em!" yelled Boyd who had finally escaped an angry prairie dog family. He ran after the couple in a cloud of dust.

"Should I stop him?" asked Geoffrey.

"Nah," said Oscar. "Maybe he'll just keep running and running and he'll forget what he's doing. Then a pack of coyotes will find him and raise him as their own."

Everyone started at the green-haired paladin.

"What? Can't a guy dream?"

"Ignoring that…" said the sheriff. Once again, his eyes met the gaze of Frijole. He and Mariposa were tied back to back. "Rhys, I think I'm goin' to unmask these two."

"Go ahead…"

He bent down and ripped off both of the bandit's bandannas. Nothing could have prepared the cowboys for what they saw next.

"MIST?! ROLF?!"

"Quit that!" yelled Rolf. "The simultaneous yelling is getting on my nerves."

"Mine too," said Mist.

"Why Rolf?" asked Oscar. "My own little brother, why?"

"I AIN'T THAT LITTLE!!!" I was sick 'n tired of everyone callin' me short and pipsqueak and peewee… Becomin' a bandit let me git my revenge!"

"Way to go!" said Shinon. Ike kicked him in the shin. "I mean…bad boy…evil is bad…"

Mist rolled her eyes. "You guys are such wimps, unlike Frijole here. Now he's a real man!"

"So you just followed his example and became evil?" said Ike.

"Pretty much…"

"Where did I go wrong?"

"Well," said the Masked Stranger who was now atop his noble steed with Lady Astrid beside him. "Now that the Black Bandanna Gang is unmasked, I best be off. There's other towns in need of my help." And with that, he rode off into the sunset.

"Who was that masked hero?" asked Boyd who had returned.

"THAT'S IT!" yelled Oscar. He rolled up his sleeves and jumped on his brother.

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"Then Deputy Boyd went into a coma, the Black Bandanna Gang went to jail for life, and everyone lived happily ever after," finished Makolov.

No one responded.

"So what did you guys think?"

"Do you really want to know what I thought?" asked Boyd. Several other people stood up and crowded around the paladin.

Three minutes later, he was tied to the same wooden post as Geoffrey. Makolov opened his mouth to speak. "I-"

"No talking," said Geoffrey.

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Now wasn't that fun? This is the end of the Masked Stranger, but what's the next tale...I'll give you a hint. It has people in it and a plot which involves a western theme. Heh heh...