A/N: Hello again. Thanks so much for reading, guys. Just to let you know, I've only been able to update this daily so far because I haven't had work all week. Gotta go back Saturday, though, so updates will slow a bit. I'll try to update at least every couple of days, though. For those of you who've been waiting for Mordecai, here's the chapter for you. Also, because I have some mild art skills I drew Rigby and Mordecai as they appear in this universe. To see it, go to heart0ffender (that's a zero, not a capital o) dot deviantart dot com. You could also just go to my profile and click the link. I have two sites, my deviantart and a blog (that is sometimes NSFW). It's on both sites.
10
(Rigby's POV)
"Craaap, what am I gonna do?" I paced back and forth outside of the fence that enclosed Benny's Skivvy Stop. Sure, I'd left all confident, but where the heck was I going to get money in such short notice?
"Not that it's any of my business or anything, but you could always head over to Scraptown. You might be able to find some work there. It won't be fun, though." The game shop guy was watching me apathetically from the other side of the gate.
"Well, how far is it?" I snapped, agitated.
"About three miles that way." He raised his massive arm and jabbed it to the right. "Just look for a small group of buildings that look like they're defying the laws of gravity by just standing up."
"Thanks." I started off, but stopped after a few steps. "Why are you helping me, anyway?" I asked, leering suspiciously.
"You're kind of bugging me, and I need my 'quiet time,'" he explained, leaning on the gate. I grit my teeth and tried to come up with a biting, intelligent insult.
"...Well, you're.. ugly! Super ugly!" And I bolted, cackling. Sometimes I'm too cool for my own good.
By time the sad excuse for a town came into view over the uneven, rocky terrain, I had slowed to an exhausted crawl. Man, I thought, panting heavily, How the hell do those adventurer-types do this stuff?
Like Randy had said, it looked like Scraptown shouldn't have been capable of staying upright. The name of the town suited it perfectly. It was less than twenty buildings (if you could call them that) made apparently out of whatever kind of crap the people could find. One building even had bike tires as window frames. It literally looked like a junkyard with doors in the piles of trash.
"Ughh..." I groaned, slouched over. I was tired. I just came three freaking miles and now I had to do even more work, then rush all the way back over there. Maybe I should just call it a night and finish it tomorrow. It wasn't even close to being dark out yet, but I didn't really care. Tired was tired.
"But if I wait that long, Eileen could..." I wasn't sure what they might do to her, but I didn't like anything that popped into my head. "Arrrgh, this sucks!" I exclaimed, kicking viciously at a rock and stubbing my toe. "OW! Dammit!"
"What sucks?" came a calm, semi-interested voice.
11
"Mordecai?" I asked, my jaw dropped. He looked so cool. Well, not as cool as me, but still pretty cool. He had on a ripped, sleeveless hoodie and a shredded T-shirt underneath it. He was also wearing mud-caked combat boots too, and for some reason there was a stop sign laying on the ground next to him.
"Wrong," he said casually, not even bothering to open his eyes. He was laying under pretty much the only tree I'd seen so far that still had a few leaves on it, his arms folded under his head. "The name's Mad Man Mordo. Looks like I'm gonna have to start correcting people again."
That nickname you use when we wrestle? "Uhh, anyway, lemme guess, you're some kind of bounty hunter, or something?" Despite my bemused tone, I was really glad to see my best friend in this universe. Unfortunately, he wasn't really my Mordecai, just like Benny wasn't really Benson, and that girl wasn't Eileen, but in this place, he was as close as I was going to get to the real thing.
"Nope, but you're more accurate than most people, I'll give you that." He yawned and stretched, clearly enjoying himself. Lucky jackass.
"Well, what are you, then?"
"Any of these guys in there'll tell you, I'm a thug and a murderer," he said with a wide grin. That didn't sound like Mordecai at all, but this place didn't make much sense to me, anyway.
I shook my head, remembering that I came here for a reason. "Look, man, I'll talk to you later. I've got something I have to do."
"What kind of something?" he asked, looking at me curiously.
"There's.. somebody I have to save," I said with slight embarrassment.
For some reason, he seemed to find that interesting. "Hmm. Eh, I'll be here," he said with a shrug.
I reluctantly hurried into town. I desperately wanted to take a break and talk to Mordecai more, but I knew that getting Eileen away from Benson was more important, and everything else would have to wait.
12
I looked around the small town for some kind of hint as to where I should go. All I saw were a bunch of beggars, and some slightly less dirty-looking people walking around. None of them really looked like they had cash to spare. I spotted what I thought was a restaurant and almost headed inside, when an unmistakably recognizable laugh caught my attention.
I went into the nearby building it came from and found myself staring at another one of my friends. "Pops?" I asked, smiling a bit.
"Oh, why hello, my good man," he said, pointlessly overjoyed as always. He was sitting behind a counter made out of ironing boards with sheets over them. "You must be looking for a room. How wonderful of you to have chosen my hotel over everything else!"
"There's more than one hotel in this place?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ehh.. well... no. But you've come to just the right place, I assure you!" he cried, smiling again. The thought of rest tempted me greatly, but I was broke, and I remembered why I came in the first place.
"Actually, I was wondering if you had any work available? I kind of need some money, as soon as possible. It's for a friend..." I picked at my fingers restlessly.
Pops sighed airily. "I'm terribly sorry, young wanderer, but there's just nothing to be done here at the moment. I wish I could help, I really do. The whole town is in a bit of a financial slump, if you haven't noticed."
"The whole town is a financial slump," I muttered under my breath. "It's cool. I understand." I tried not to look completely ungrateful, but I don't think I was doing an awesome job at it. "I'll come back if I ever get some money and need a place to stay, all right?"
"Ohh... yes, of course." Pops sounded genuinely sorry as I left, and I felt kind of guilty for indirectly depressing him.
I growled to myself as I walked out of the hotel. So they were all as broke as they looked? "Freakin' mirrors," I grumbled, cursing the stupid thing that had brought me here in the first place. I smacked into something solid and fell back on my ass. "What the heck, man?!" I screamed, pissed at the whole world.
I opened my eyes to see Mordecai holding his hand out to me. "I've been thinking about what you said, Rigs." Dumbfounded, I took it and he helped me up.
"Rigs?" I asked, blinking.
"It's your name, isn't it? It's in the back of your vest." I craned my neck around, trying to look at my back. It threw me off balance and I had to take a few steps this way and that to keep from falling. All I succeeded in was getting a bad cramp and looking pretty stupid.
"Uhh. Sure. I guess so," I said, giving up.
"Oh, I get it. You're the kind of guy that doesn't really like to talk about himself, huh? I can respect that. Anyway, I'm getting pretty bored with this town. Everyone here thinks I'm some kind of psychotic bandit just because I killed a few guys in self-defense on my way here."
"You did?" I asked, eyes wide.
"Yeah, but it's not like they were that strong or anything," he dismissed, shrugging slightly. "You said you wanted to save somebody, right? I could probably help you out. I'm good with that kind of stuff." He grinned, looking proud of himself.
"It's not that kind of thing. I just need money to pay a slaver," I sighed, kicking the dirt.
"Money? Just use good, old-fashioned violence!" he said, laughing.
"But there's like a whole bunch of guards and stuff," I whined, laying my ears back.
"So? You've got Mad Man Mordo on your side, man, and I've got a reputation." Jerk. I wanted a reputation, too. "Besides, it could already be too late by the time you get that much money."
"I... guess you're right," I admitted, taking that into consideration. It would probably be pretty cool beating people up, too. Just like a real life video game. I already knew I could operate the shotgun flawlessly; who's to say I couldn't take out a whole slave operation, too?
"Great! Then it's settled! Let's go kick some ass!" exclaimed Mordecai, swinging his massive stop sign up onto his shoulder. I flinched as it almost grazed my side.