Ok my fellow readers, so here is the next chapter for "A Fistful of Gemstones". In the last chapter, we saw the group meeting Puss in Boots, at first they but heads, but in the end, he along with Kitty Softpaws joins the group. Fun fact: my OC villain Marcos Cortez is modeled a little bit off of a character from the Sergio Leone spaghetti Western "Once Upon a Time in The West"(1968) named Frank played by an actor named Henry Fonda, as well as actor Gian Maria Valonte in "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More". So anyway, please review and enjoy.

Chapter 10

It was another hot day out on the road. Merida, Hiccup and Merida were riding alongside the wagon, as well as Puss and Kitty, who were on their own horse that they had brought along with them. As they were riding, Hiccup was explaining to Puss and Kitty a little bit about Toothless, telling them that he will not hurt them since he is a trained Dragon. Merida and Django acted as the scouts looking to see if they would find anything that would be seen as a disturbance or trouble. Astrid was at the reins and looked over at Kitty's paws in curiosity.

"Hey Kitty" Astrid said to the cat who was right beside her "What is it that is so useful about those soft paws that you have?" Merida looked over as she was curious as well.

"I used to be one of the most high-ended thieves in all of Spain" Kitty explained to her "My paws are so soft I can steal you blind and you won't even know I was there" she then held up a bag of coins that supposedly came out of nowhere. Astrid, shocked by this, looked down and noticed that a bag of money that she usually keeps was gone, and then looked up at Astrid.

"I didn't even feel you take it" Astrid said amazed by this.

"Like I said, soft paws" Kitty replied with a smirk before throwing the gold coins back to Astrid. Merida chuckled a little bit at this, until Astrid gave her a friendly glare and she stopped. As they were riding down the desert area, Django felt a pinch on his shoulder, which he soon learned was his bullet wound that was located under his left shoulder that he had taken years ago on that tragic and fateful day, the same wound that was removed with some help by people that found him, the ones that helped him find his gun fighting skills.

"Hey, what's the matter" Hiccup asked Django as he had noticed the state that he was in.

"Nothing, just thinking about a few things" Django replied. As they continued to ride, Astrid saw a figure that was walking through the desert in a wobbly way, with a sheep that was right next to him.

"Hey guys, look over there" Astrid said pointing over to where she spotted the man. Everyone looked to where she was pointing, even those that were in the wagon got out and looked.

"I can't see anything through this bright sun and heat" Tuffnut said. Hiccup squinted his eyes a little bit and saw an old man that he had recognized before.

"Is that… Mildew?" Hiccup said seeing who it is.

"I thought he was too old to even find a tree" Snotlout said. Hiccup just ignored Snotlout's comment and turned to the rest of the group.

"Come on guys, let's check it out" Hiccup said. The group agreed and turned to where the old man and his sheep were.

"So you know this man?" Django asked Hiccup.

"Yeah, he used to live on Berk" Hiccup said "Unlike most people, who were comfortable with the peace we made with the dragons, he has always hated dragons and will do anything that will have them off the island. He was recaptured while we were escaping from Outcast island once" As they moved up, they saw that Mildew had his pet sheep Fungus with him, but that was just about it since there was practically nobody else with him. The old man, who looked tired and weak, looked up and saw a group of people, at first he was a little frightened, but appeared to lighten up when he saw Hiccup.

"Ah, hello Hiccup" the old man said as he dusted sand off of his clothes "I didn't expect to see you out here"

"And I didn't expect you to be out here either?" Hiccup said "Why did Alvin bring you along?"

"It's a long story" Mildew said in a tired tone "I need some rest"

"Come on guys, let's get him in the wagon" Hiccup said as he and Merida got off their steeds and went over to help Mildew up, and get him and Fungus into the wagon. Mildew noticed that there were some other people with them and turned to Hiccup.

"I see you have some friends with you" Mildew said to Hiccup.

"We can tell you about them when we get somewhere" Hiccup said. The only problem was that they didn't seem to see any place that they could stop at "Is there any place we can stop?" everybody looked around to see if they could find anything, until Puss saw a building building that was far away, but not too far.

"Senior, I see a stable building over there" Puss said to Hiccup.

"Where?" Hiccup asked not seeing where he was pointing at first.

"Over there, just beyond the hill" Puss replied. Hiccup looked and saw that there was the building; with the sign saying that it has stables, which made Hiccup believe that they could stop there since the animals were getting tired.

"Alright, we'll stop here for now, we need to feed the animals anyway" Hiccup said. The others agreed with him and followed Hiccup and Merida over to the stable house, unaware that there were several Outcast soldiers miles away, waiting for themselves to make their move.

Meanwhile, in Spanish military post that was nearby the town of San Ricardo, one man known as the Comandante, who was in charge of patrolling the town, was pacing in his office back and forth, looking at the old wanted posters of Puss in Boots that weren't all over town anymore. The Comandante was disgusted, ever since the incident involving the giant goose, the people of San Ricardo started to see Puss in Boots as their greatest hero, but the Comandante still saw him as a criminal and a thief, and believed that the people of San Ricardo were blind. Ever since that night years ago when Puss and Humpty Alexander Dumpty supposedly robbed the bank (although unknown to him, Humpty had tricked Puss into helping him) and receiving the three scars on the side of his cheek, he had come to despise the cat whom he referred to as 'Diablo Gato'. He looked outside the glass window which gave a view of the town of San Ricardo, which was not very far away. He felt pity for the town's people of how they now view the cat as.

"These people, when will they see the truth" the Comandante said to himself "That Diablo Gato is a menace, a thief, and now he is nowhere to be found"

"Oh that's not entirely true" a voice said from nowhere. The Comandante turned around and saw Marcos Cortez and one of his men with him leaning by the door to his office "It has been a long time my friend"

"How did you get in here?" The Comandante asked surprised at this.

"That is not important right now" Marcos simply said to him "What is important is what you said about Puss in Boots there. In fact he is somewhere that I think might interest you and some that may interest me" The Comandante knew that this man was not one to be trusted, but decided to listen to what he had to say.

"What is that?" The Comandante asked curiously.

"There are rumors going around that there is a group of travelers that have the map that leads to the lost gemstones of the two travelers" Marcos explained "And I think that cat is traveling with them" The Comandante was shocked, he had heard the legend of the two gemstones, but he didn't know that it could be true.

"Alright, I shall make you a deal" The Comandante said to him "If you bring that Diablo Gato in, I will be able to pay you a handsome reward, about up to 500 worth of gold"

"1000" Marcos said "You know that I prefer being paid higher"

"Very well then" The Comandante said "I will pay you $1000 for bringing back Puss in Boots, although, I am unsure about the rest of the group he is with"

"I will take care of them myself" Marcos said "You just worry about the cat. How many of your men can I bring along?"

"About a dozen" Comandante said to him "But remember, you give me that cat, and I'll let you have the money and the others"

"Of course" Marcos said to him "It is a deal then" Marcos held out his hand to the Comandante, who shook it in reply, and let out a grin which showed his three scars.

"Diablo Gato" The Comandante said to himself after he shook hands "Soon you will be mine"

So that's it for now, I know it's a little short than my previous chapters but I don't mind. The Comandante character is from Puss in Boots, I wanted to include him as a minor antagonist due to him thinking that he was behaving in a very antagonistic way and that he still saw Puss as his enemy at the end of the movie (even though the rest of the town didn't). Also, the reason they helped Mildew and that he seemed helpless is that in the season finale of the Dragons TV series, he was making a ruse to help Hiccup escape just so he could learn about training dragons, and it was not revealed to them, so I thought of including that as well. Anyway I hope you liked it, please review, and I will update soon. Bye.