Hey guys!

Again, sorry for the delay, college...

Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter,

Get ready for some action,

Chapter 9, Brawl

Rance, Fen, Arco, Carmelita, and Ratchet approached the Prowler's Den. Sounds of music and dance came from the building. It was much larger than Oliver's inn and more crowded. Rance looked at Carmelita, "No offense dear, but you're gonna stick out in this crowd. Stay out here and keep an eye out. If you see him leaving, let us know."

Carmelita began to protest when Ratchet spoke up. "Carmelita, it'll be okay. I can look for Reap in there and you can look for him out here. Rance is right; you'd be too easily spotted in there."

Carmelita sighed, "Fine." She thought for a second. "The lombax that fired at us when Reap attacked, even though he was masked, I was able to see his ears. He had silver fur with dark blue stripes… I know I haven't been around long, but I've never seen blue stripes."

Rance nodded, "Yeah, The Hunter has that fur coloration. It's not common, keep an eye out for that pattern. It is not common, and I bet if he's here, then Reap isn't far behind."

Rance looked at Fen, "Send in your bees and stay with Carmelita, you and Arco stay with her. If Reap runs out, Arco, create a barrier to trap him."

Arco nodded.

Rance looked down at his pocket, "You ready Ratchet?"

Ratchet nodded, "Yeah, let's get him."

Fen pointed towards the inn and Ferra turned into a red swarm of bees. They scattered and flew into the rowdy building.

"That's our queue," Rance stated a moved in. He was dressed as a civilian with black pants, a cream-collared shirt, and a black vest. The red streak through his near-white hair gave him a bit of a wild look and made his bright blue eyes stand out.

Rance entered the Prowler's Den and headed for the bar. He got a glass of Black Knight and began to drink it, trying to blend into the crowd. He whispered, "Take a look around, and see if anyone looks familiar."

Ratchet nodded and peeked out of Rance's pocket. "I can't get a good view from here." He spotted a vent near the ceiling. "If I can get to that vent, I can see better and it will be harder for me to get caught."

Rance looked around, "For now, I don't see anyone that raises any red flags… hang on…"

"To what?" Ratchet yelped lightly as Rance grabbed him. Rance brought his hand back. "Aw come on…" Ratchet resisted from yelling as Rance threw him towards the vent. The yellow lombax flew through the air and wasn't noticed as he landed in the circular vent.

"Getting thrown like a toy…" Ratchet grumbled as he dusted himself off. He turned around and looked out of the vent. He saw Rance give him a wry grin. "Crazy Law Men…" Ratchet grumbled again and rolled his eyes towards Rance.

Rance chuckled and took a sip of his drink before looking around.

How am I supposed to find him? He wore a mask and barely spoke. Ratchet thought. Someone that secretive wouldn't be in the middle of the action; he'd be off to the side. Ratchet began to look around the fringe of the inn.

Every few seconds, Rance would glance up at the vent, waiting for Ratchet to signal him.

It took Ratchet a minute before he saw a pair of big, silver-furred, blue-stripped, lombax ears in the back of the room. The Hunter; can't ID Reap but we can get the next best thing. The next time Rance glanced up, which was a few seconds later, he nodded towards the blue-striped lombax.

Rance looked over before nodding slightly. He then motioned for Ratchet to climb out of the vent.

Ratchet nodded and looked down, he was a good fifteen feet up. At his size, normally this kind of height would be deadly. Due to the VIM however, this was not the case. He hung to the edge of the vent before letting go and falling. He landed accurately back inside Rance's pocket.

Rance then casually finished his drink and approached the targeted bax.

The target bax went still when he felt Rance's gun against his side.

"Come with me," Rance said in a low tone and volume, "I need to ask you a few…" The Occisor's reflexes served him well as he managed to quickly duck a shot. The lombax, now confirmed to be The Hunter, had spun around with impressive speed, summoned and fired his McVoy. His shot caused the bar and inn to go into panic and those that weren't blasted drunk ran out.

Rance managed to dodge the round and quickly brought his gun back up and fired it.

The Hunter knocked Rance's gun to the side enough to make his shot miss and he fired his gun.

Rance both ducked and knocked the Hunter's gun up and made it miss.

For ten seconds, Rance and the Hunter try and shoot the other at point blank range. They both exhaust the ammo in their guns and look at each other awkwardly for a second.

"Nice moves," Rance complemented.

The Hunter nodded, "You too."

They both jumped away from the other and ducked under cover.

Ratchet leapt out of Rance's pocket and grew to his normal size. "Well that was fun…"

As the first shots rang out from the bar, the rest of the gang nearby started to move in. The crowd running out slowed their progress.

Rykk froze and his white-tipped ear twitched. "Reap!"

Sure enough, there was a loud roar from above and a dark, winged shadow flew through the evening sky. He landed between the group and the inn. He was still masked and cloaked.

Carmelita growled, "GIVE ME BACK SLY!"

A dark chuckle came from Reap, "Well," his gravelly voice rang out. "That might be arranged…" He roared and flew at her.

Rykk flew up from the ground and body-slammed Reap before he could attack.

The hit sent Reap flying high and his wings extended, slowing him. He roared and dove towards Rykk; he made a shadowy fist and threw it at Rykk as he came down.

Rykk shot himself sideways and out of the way of the huge fist as it left a crater in the ground.

Carmelita yelled as she fired a stream of blue flame at Reap.

Leo quickly drew his pistols and fired, along with Atlas.

Murray yelled and leapt at Reap, bringing his metallic fist down.

Reap didn't seem to break a sweat, within a second he; threw a shadow fist at Rykk, sending him bouncing and skidding across the rocky ground, he leapt out of the way of Carmelita's fire, made a second, dark hand that blocked both Leo and Atlas' rounds, and used that same hand to catch Murray's. He then threw the big hippo aside like a toy.

Rykk tried to recover as he was sent flying but the blow was hard, even with his strength. He was dazed as his body was cut and bruised by the rocks. He was stopped when he crashed into a boulder. He hit the boulder with his back and yelped upon impact. He groaned and slowly stood up. Everything hurt and cobalt blood drizzled from the various cuts on his arms, torso, legs and face.

Murray, while not hit like Rykk, was sent flying. Thanks to his metallic skin, he wasn't injured or even cut. He was more ticked than anything.

Carmelita roared and fired another jet of fire.

Reap simply dodged it and punched her in the jaw.

The blow was so fast and hard, Carmelita was stunned and flew back.

Leo roared an intense beam of purple energy at Reap.

Reap howled when the beam struck his back. He was quick enough to shield himself with a shadow hand before the beam killed him. He quickly injected himself with some Healer and growled. "Fine, I was going to just maim… but now… I will kill you all!" He roared and summoned his blades. He then charged Leo.

Leo summoned his energy-tipped, short-sword, named Fang and managed to parry and dodge Reap's blades.

Atlas quickly reloaded his pistols but had to hold back. He couldn't get a clear shot.

Carmelita had the same problem, she growled as she watched Leo and Reap exchanged blocks and strikes.

Rykk flew towards them, his own blades drawn.

Time then seemed to go still for Leo, everything went quiet. He looked down and found one of Reap's blades in his gut. He gasped and tried to jab Reap with Fang. Bright red blood began to pour from the wound. Leo coughed and wheezed.

Atlas' eyes went wide, along with all of the others. "LEO!"

The Hunter chuckled, "Indeed, this is…" within a second, he had reloaded his pistol and fired at Rance and Ratchet.

Rance and Ratchet both rolled and dove for cover. Ratchet summoned his wrench and Rance reloaded his sleeve revolvers.

The Hunter ducked for cover to reload.

Ratchet fired a blast from his wrench and the wall exploded.

The Hunter managed to escape the blast and fired at Ratchet.

Ratchet yelped and ducked back for cover.

Rance fired back, but the Hunter managed to escape his Vector rounds.

The firefight between the three lasted for a few minutes before both Rance and the Hunter ran out of ammo.

Taking this opportunity, Ratchet charged the Hunter with his wrench. He fired a blast from it.

The Hunter raised a wrench of his own. This one was sleeker and was a polished, gun-metal grey color with dark blue highlights. An energy shield rose from the wrench's head and blocked Ratchet's blast. He then swung his wrench at Ratchet's temple.

Ratchet managed to black the Hunter's wrench with his own.

The Hunter kicked Ratchet back and swung his wrench at Rance.

Rance, to Ratchet's amazement, caught the wrench's head with his hand.

The Hunter growled as Rance tried to throw the wrench.

Rance managed to yank the wrench from the Hunter's hand and tossed it aside.

The Hunter didn't quit, he summoned a pair of energy-tipped knives. He very rapidly swung and jabbed them at Rance.

Rance managed to evade them and summoned a pair of his own.

The duo looked almost as if they were dancing as they both tried to stab or cut the other.

Ratchet could only watch… then gasped as Rance was jabbed in the arm and leg. He yelped and fell as blood began to pour.

Reap kicked Leo onto his back and was about to cut his throat. He couldn't, he turned and locked blades with Rykk.

Rykk snarled, "WHO ARE YOU?!" He quickly broke the lock and kicked Reap in the face.

Reap's mask broke free from his face.

Reap's true appearance sickened the group and they couldn't help but feel some fear.

His skin was bright red. His eyes had no white; they were bright yellow and had horizontal, black lines for pupils. His mouth was so filled with yellowed fangs that it didn't fully close. He had long, white hair and pointed ears.

Reap shrieked/roared and charged at Rykk.

Atlas ran over to Leo and gave him some Healer but it was only a temporary fix.

Rykk yelled, his anger and concern for Leo pushed him over the edge and flew into the Alter Storm.

Reap yelled and snarled as he realized the tables had turned on him. He turned tail and flew back towards the inn.

"Rance!" Ratchet yelled and charged the Hunter.

Even with his boost of anger, Ratchet yelped as he felt his legs and arms cut and he fell beside Rance.

The Hunter looked at them. "Well, well, which to die first?"

The Hunter leapt backwards in time to avoid being stabbed.

"How about you?" Six replied with a grin.

The Hunter chuckled, "Hey there Six, nice to finally see you."

Six chuckled back. "Back to you, Hunter, must say, you're near the top of my list."

"Yeah… I figured as…" With a quick motion, a flick of a wrist, the Hunter flung one of his blades.

His blade embedded in Six, the crazy bax did manage to only get the blade in his shoulder. He grunted and chuckled as blood began to ooze from the wound.

The Hunter chuckled along with Six; "I knew you were sadistic, but sadomasochistic? Well, that's interesting."

"What are you? Some kind of shrink?" Six retorted.

The Hunter shook his head, "Naw, but I do find how the mind works interesting." He tapped his forehead for emphasis. "Oh, on a different note, if you wish to get your friend back, you can. But you'll have to make a trade… here." He tossed a small tape recorder to Rance.

Rance caught it and growled.

Six growled as well, "Enough of these games!" He shouted as he ran at the Hunter.

The Hunter just chuckled as Six was knocked aside by Reap.

Reap had flown into the inn, he made a mess of the place as well and made Six fall on his face. Reap grabbed the Hunter and batted Six aside with one of his wings before flying off.

Six groaned and noticed that his nose was bleeding and growled. "Okay, I am gonna cut those two so bad…"

Six was interrupted by Carmelita as she ran in. "He's gone again…" She growled.

Fen was on her tail, "Guys, we need to go! Leo's been badly hurt, and the Healer he got won't fix him completely! He needs a doc!"

Rance grunted as he gave some Healer to himself and Ratchet.

Six also grunted as he pulled the blade out of his shoulder and crimson blood began to flow. He gave himself some Healer as well before looking at Ratchet. "Y'know… those VIM abilities would be quite handy and would help us get Reap faster…"

Ratchet shook his head. "Not so fast Six… you still haven't…"

"He's right," Rance interrupted, "They would help." He looked at Ratchet, "The lesser of two evils and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, whichever one suits you better."

Ratchet sighed, "It has to be cleared with my dad, but right now, Leo is badly hurt. We need to have him looked at."

Rance nodded, "Yeah… let's go... man I haven't had a fight like that since I was in training… it was a rush!"

Ratchet gave Rance an odd look. "But we got our tails kicked…"

Rance nodded, "Yeah, but it was still a rush!"

"…you're nuts."

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy this story so far and thanks for all of the reviews! They keep me going!

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Jerod2447