The Cartoon Wars

by Felix Rodriguez

Post Chapter 10 - With Alex's death, General Grievous and his men now take command of the Loyalist regime. Timmy Turner and the rest of the rebels will now have to fight them. Unknown to the rebels, The Master is secretly running things behind the scenes.

14. Episode 14

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my original characters.

THE CARTOON WARS

Episode 14: The Desert Zone Showdown

The leaders of the rebellion are close to executing the siege of DIMMSDALE, capital city and heart of the LOYALIST regime. Before pulling the trigger, there is still one last obstacle to overcome. Two of the Loyalists most dangerous leaders, COLONEL CYCLOPS and COLONEL MERCHANT, have been spotted in the Desert Zone around the region of NOWHERE. TIMMY TURNER has elected to go on a special solo mission to the area...

At a Loyalist outpost near the edge of the small town of Nowhere, a Loyalist sat bored behind his desk, fanning himself and looking around at the surroundings. On the wall hung wanted posters of the dangerous gang of criminals in the area: The Six-Gum Gang. Originally just five punk kids who were a minor nuisance, at worst, when the others were slaughtered, Runt, their leader, became a legitimately dangerous criminal, pillaging and murdering anyone caught in the Desert Zone without an escort. Runt had gathered twenty-four of the most cutthroat and deadly criminals in the Desert Zone to reform the gang and cause even more problems for the entire area. 750,000 Loyalist credits were being offered for the bodies of the entire gang; Runt himself was worth 300,000 credits alone. This bounty had even been recently increased, but not a single bounty hunter or Loyalist operation had been able to kill a single member yet. The Loyalist sighed and looked around more, several of his comrades were playing cards and a few droids were standing at attention.

The Desert Zone was a vast area of Cartoon Land and Nowhere was smack dab in the middle of it. Nowhere was a small community where not much changed from day to day. The small Loyalist garrison that was in the town was more than enough to protect it from any random bandit attacks or break up the few fights that happened. No one in the Loyalist command believed that any real rebel assault would happen on the isolated town, so being assigned there was more of a curse than a blessing. Originally there had been an actual fort just outside of town, but it was more for show and only really used for the annual Officer's Retreat until the Exiled Bunch essentially wiped out all the gathered officers. Ever since that incident, the fort had just been sitting vacant and dilapidated.

As the Loyalist fanned himself and sighed heavily again, a stranger walked in the door. The stranger walked up to the desk, not showing his face under a huge pink sombrero and asked, "Still 750,000 for that group of thugs?"

"Yeah, but good luck to you, stranger," the Loyalist scoffed, "Many have tried for that bounty, and they've all ended up six feet under."

"You have the full amount here on-site correct?" the stranger asked, not caring about the concerns of the Loyalist.

The Loyalist behind the desk chuckled, "Buddy, if you're able to even bring a single one of them back here dead I'll be happy to give you the ENTIRE reward."

"Where can I find them?" the intrigued stranger questioned.

"Last I heard they were gathered near that area with all the piled rocks," the Loyalist remembered, "That place that's supposed to be haunted by the ghosts of dead toons or something."

"Thanks," the stranger thanked as he turned and left the outpost.

The bored Loyalist went back to trying to amuse himself as an hour passed by before the door to the outpost opened again and a slightly taller stranger came in.

"Did someone else stop by here earlier today?" the new stranger asked, "Wearing a pink sombrero?"

"Yeah," confessed the Loyalist, "He asked all about the bounty on the Six-Gum Gang and asked me where to find them. I told him the last known area was that haunted place with all the piled-up rocks."

"Thanks," the second stranger nodded as he went out the door himself, leaving the outpost, once again, in a state of silence.

A half hour later the door opened a third time and an even taller stranger came in. This one was obviously not from Cartoon Land as he was made up of pixels and was much more high definition compared to some of the more simplistic drawings of the cartoon residents of the land.

The third stranger walked up to the desk and announced, "Package for Colonel Merchant straight from the Video Game Kingdom."

Again, the Loyalist at the desk answered without looking up from what he was doing, "You're not gonna ask about the bounties? Everyone else has that's come in today."

"That doesn't concern me because I already know what areas to avoid," the stranger replied, "Now where is Merchant?"

The Loyalist answered, still in a bored fashion, "I'm sorry, sir, but the colonel is currently indisposed, and I'm not allowed to divulge any other information. I'll be happy to hold onto the package until I am able to get it to him myself, though."

The third stranger stood firm and did not move, "This package is to be hand delivered to Merchant and no one else."

The Loyalist sighed, "Fine, you'll find him if you head out of town towards the standing rocks."

The third stranger turned and walked out without saying another word. The Loyalist behind the desk chuckled as he was confident he just sent all three strangers to their certain deaths by the Six-Gum Gang, having lied to the last one just to get him to leave.

In truth, Colonel Merchant was the complete opposite way from Nowhere. Along with him was the very bored Colonel Cyclops as well as the twin shuriken throwers Snah and Corpla. They were part of a small detachment of Loyalists and droids that had parked their vehicles outside of another area with large rocks separating several paths.

"Troops," Merchant reported, "according to our intel, this is the latest hideout for the Six-Gum Gang. They are said to be down there right now, at the end of the multiple paths in a cave."

"But what about the Remembrance Rocks?" asked a Loyalist, "Weren't they seen there not too long ago?"

Cyclops replied, "That's just what we tell the fortune seekers. Sometimes they go there, but for months now this has been their primary base."

"You will all split off into groups and storm each path," Merchant advised.

Cyclops stated, "Don't fail us."

Aside from two staying back to protect the Colonels, the Loyalists and droids quickly split off and started down each of the paths towards the supposed hideout of the Six-Gum Gang. Snah and Corpla smiled to themselves as they finally exited the vehicles and stood by Cyclops and Merchant. For about thirty seconds there was nothing but silence when suddenly a bloodcurdling scream was heard as revolver shots rang out all over the area. After another minute the place fell silent again.

Merchant turned to the others, "Let's go."

The two Loyalists who had stayed behind were frightened beyond belief, but Cyclops still seemed bored and the twins were relaxed, not even bothering to ready their weapons.

The six of them went down the middle path of the rocks, revealing it to be more maze-like on the inside than it first appeared. The bodies of the Loyalists and droids were all along the sides, some shot more than once, others attached to the sides of the walls. This did not help the nerves of the two Loyalists, who breathed heavily and looked around at everything anxiously, their weapons shaking nervously in their hands. Merchant just led the group further on, before stopping at a seemingly random spot.

"Alright, Runt, you've had your fun, now where the hell are you!" Merchant yelled, his command echoing throughout the maze of rocks.

A laugh echoed back at him as the small figure of Runt himself came out of the darkness in front of them. The two Loyalists held up their weapons, but Cyclops had them stand down for the time being.

"Thank ya kindly for the sport, partner," Runt spoke in a very southern/Wild West drawl. Runt was constantly chewing on gum and blew a bubble after speaking, keeping his hands near his guns at all times.

"Right," sighed Merchant, "Now, gentlemen, I'm afraid this next part must remain confidential."

After he said that, Merchant quickly turned and fired off two shots from one of his own revolvers, one for each of the Loyalist soldiers. The two fell dead as Cyclops smirked and the brothers laughed loudly.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" Cyclops asked as he walked forward, leading the others towards Runt.

Merchant angrily whispered to Cyclops as they moved, "You had me basically sacrifice good soldiers just so you can ally us with THESE psychos?"

"Unofficially," sneered Cyclops, "If something should have to suddenly change with our little arrangement, who will know that this meeting ever happened?"

Merchant smirked back and nodded, understanding the plan. Inside the cave was indeed the current hideout for the gang, who had loot and goods galore from their various robberies and crimes.

Runt sat down in a comfy chair and relaxed, "Why don'tcha sit down in a chair and make yerselves comfortable, fellers?"

Cyclops and Merchant each took a seat as Snah and Corpla stood behind them. The other members of the Six-Gum Gang slowly started to approach from the sides.

"Ah was mighty shocked when I heard through the grapevine that y'all wanted to talk about a partnership," Runt began, "Ah'm even more shocked y'all agreed to give me and my boys a little sport with some of your own guys."

Cyclops replied, "Well at this point Grievous has become so desperate to beat the rebels that he's out of options."

"Ya even agreed to do it here, where we can split off into groups and everyone can have his own little fun. That's why we love the Rememberin' Rocks so much, 'cause we can do the same thing there," Runt bragged.

"These are our terms," Merchant declared as he slid a document over to Runt, "You will allow safe passage for Loyalist troops across the Desert Zone, and, in turn, you are free to loot and plunder from the rebels and civilians as much as you'd like with no fear of persecution. One week from today, if no more attacks are reported on Loyalist troops, the wanted posters will be removed and your gang will be able to operate under the radar."

Runt chuckled, "Now it might sound like a good deal, but Ah'm sure there's some hogwash somewhere in this 'agreement.' While ah appreciate the offer, Ah'm 'fraid we're gonna have to decline your little offer."

Runt looked over at one of his gang members as a signal and they all started to withdraw their guns to kill the four. With smiles on their faces, Snah and Corpla simply opened their suit coats and began to throw shuriken around the room with lightning quickness. The members of the Six-Gum Gang were thrown back against the walls of the cave, pinned in place by the shuriken thrown by the brothers. Runt looked in shock as all twenty-four of his gang were quickly incapacitated by Snah and Corpla, stuck against the cave walls unable to use their guns. As Runt attempted to draw his own guns, Merchant had one of his guns already drawn and Cyclops had his sword to Runt's neck.

"Barely even broke a sweat," Snah chuckled.

Corpla bragged, "I would barely even call this a challenge."

Cyclops sneered at Runt, "And I would say that you are in no position right now to decline our proposition."

Runt begrudgingly signed the document and handed it back to Merchant.

"There really is no catch, you know," Merchant pointed out as he rolled up the document and put it in his coat, "We would ask that you come with us to stay at a designated location for the first week, as our honored guests."

"And would that be a jail, perhaps?" Runt asked angrily, feeling ashamed and humiliated more than anything.

Merchant shook his head, "Actually, this would be a faction neutral location. The area I have in mind...well the guys there are under a similar agreement."

Runt raised an eyebrow as he blew another bubble from his chewing gum, "Let's go fellers."

As Snah and Corpla removed their shuriken from the Six-Gum Gang, the humiliated gang members all piled into the Loyalist vehicles outside as they drove away.

At the Remembrance Rocks, Timmy set aside the pink sombrero he had brought to conceal his identity when he went into Nowhere and sat down in meditation. The Remembrance Rocks were another maze-like area of rocks, though these were deliberately set up as a memorial for anyone who had passed away. According to legend, the spirit of anyone who died in Cartoon Land was supposed to come to the Remembrance Rocks and make their way through the maze of rocks to find the afterlife. There were stories of spirits being seen in the area, most saying that they had either gotten lost or chosen not to move onto the afterlife, having some sort of unfinished business. While Timmy was meditating, he felt something wrong, not with the Force, but just something in general. Timmy grabbed his katana and held it out in front of him, almost as if the magic in the sword wanted him to leave it there. Timmy had never questioned the almost other-worldly magic that existed in the sword that controlled his every movement whenever he used it. Since Timmy had become proficient in using his lightsaber, the sword seemed like an afterthought. As he held the sword out in his hands, Timmy closed his eyes and returned to meditating, for a few seconds he even felt like a ghostly figure had appeared in front of him and was reaching out for the sword. Suddenly Timmy had his concentration broken and turned, putting the sword back on his belt.

"Getting spooked easily huh, Timmy?" smiled a figure. It was the second stranger who had visited the Loyalist outpost in Nowhere.

Timmy smiled back, "Might just be the place, it's peaceful but there's something eerie about it. How've you been, Danny?"

"Oh, same old," replied Colonel Danny Fenton as he sat down beside Timmy shaking his hand, "Surviving day to day."

"So, who sent you to keep an eye on me?" Timmy asked, "Grim or Squidward?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Are you kidding, both."

"I appreciate that they care, but they did not need to send the lead colonel from the Western Front out to play babysitter," joked Timmy.

"Eh, it's alright," Danny confessed, "Not much happening these days. Bit of a stalemate in my neck of the woods. Still, it's better than Amity Park."

"How are Sam, Tucker, and Jazz doing?" Timmy asked, wondering about Danny's best friends.

Danny answered, "Tuck's still hanging in there. He doesn't see much front-line action anymore with two missing legs. Jazz is helpful to keep things under control and keep everyone calm. Sam's still Sam. She's keeping me on my toes."

"Still has her sunny disposition?" joked Timmy, knowing that Sam was a snarky goth.

"Of course she does, she's all sunshine and rainbows," Danny joked back.

The two old friends laughed, leaving the area in a dead silence afterwards. A sound of a throat clearing was heard as Timmy and Danny turned and drew their weapons. The third stranger from the outpost walked towards them slowly.

"So, you must be the others that idiot was talking about," the stranger stated.

"Who are you?" Timmy asked.

The man took no notice and looked around the area, "Someone you shouldn't concern yourself with, I'm just here looking for Merchant."

"Well, join the club," scoffed Danny as he still pointed his weapon at the stranger.

Looking over the two, the man questioned, "You two are rebels, right?"

"Yes," replied Timmy, "And you're obviously not from around here, Mr. High Definition."

The man sighed, "This is why I hate going on missions like this out of the country; I stick out like a sore thumb."

"Okay, dude, you have about five seconds to turn around and walk the other way," Danny threatened.

"Will you two just calm down," the man explained, "look it's clear that Merchant or that outlaw gang or whatever aren't here."

The man leaned against a rock and asked, "May a condemned man at least know the names of his killers before the inevitable?"

"Timmy Turner," Timmy introduced.

Danny came next, "And I'm Danny Fenton."

The man shrugged, "Never heard of either of you, I'm afraid. Maybe if I had, I would have had a harder time with what I'm about to do."

Immediately after saying that, the man leaped forward, withdrawing two guns as he began to open fire wildly. Timmy rolled out of the way as Danny seemingly took a direct hit from one of the shots and fell to the ground. Timmy quickly readied his lightsaber but was suddenly kicked in the chest by the man, his lightsaber flinging away.

"Shame we barely got to know each other," the man told Timmy as he cocked one of his pistols, "You two seemed like really nice guys."

Suddenly the man's leg was swept out from behind as he fell to the ground, firing off his pistol in the air as he fell. Confused, the man turned to see Danny punch him right in the chest and kick away one of his guns. Timmy quickly ran over and smacked the other one away as they both pinned him down.

"What's wrong?" Timmy asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

The man was looking Danny over in shock, "I swear that I shot you!"

Danny smiled back, "I just faked being hit."

The man was still confused as he was 100% sure that his shot had not missed, but sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine, I give up boys, you got me."

"Who are you?" questioned Timmy.

"My name is Leon Scott Kennedy," Leon replied, "As you can tell, I'm from the Video Game Kingdom."

Danny now asked, "Well what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm an agent sent by President Wesker to assassinate Merchant," explained Leon, "When he heard Baraka was taken out, Wesker sent me to 'tie up a loose end' and take Merchant out of the picture. He wants to wipe his hands clean of this country and Merchant is the one thing standing in the way of that."

Danny scoffed, "Typical Wesker, trying to cover his own ass."

"I assume you two rebels are also after Merchant?" Leon guessed.

"Actually no," Timmy explained, "the mission I was sent on was to wipe out the Six-Gum Gang and retrieve the bounty for them. That way we can use the money to help finance our next big military operation."

"I was just sent to watch over the kid and make sure nothing happens to him," Danny shrugged.

"Then, let me go!" Leon yelled, "Right now I'm just wasting time while my target is who knows where."

Immediately afterwards, they heard the roar of engines from nearby and quickly got up, letting Leon back up. The three of them hid behind the rocks and peered out to where the noise had come from. The Loyalist vehicles carrying Merchant, Snah, Corpla, and the Six-Gum Gang were driving right past them to their own location. Alongside them, Cyclops was riding his personal motorcycle, revving the engine every so often. Ever since he had escaped the Capital, Cyclops adored the motorcycle and would take it everywhere he went, treasuring it as though it were a gift from The Master. As the small convoy drove past, the three eyed them warily, noting the direction of their departure.

"Well it seems as though our goals have suddenly become intertwined," Leon pointed out.

Timmy questioned, "Danny, what's in that direction?"

"Only thing I can think of is an old hideout for another gang of outlaws that used to exist in this area," Danny informed the others.

"Something tells me that's where they're heading," Timmy finished.

Leon quickly raced over to where he had hitched up a horse and tried to speed away from the two rebels. Before Leon knew it, Timmy and Danny were in front of him with horses of their own.

Leon sighed, "It seems there's no getting rid of you two. Oh well, better to have company I guess."

Danny remarked, "And better to not waste all of your energy following them at full speed. We'll just follow the tire tracks."

The three rode slowly across the desert, following the tire tracks in the sand as they began to talk among each other about their adventures and their pasts.

"So, you've encountered Merchant before?" Timmy asked Leon.

Leon replied, "Only once, and while I can't say he was a friend, he certainly helped me out by offering me weapons. After Wesker took power he tried to stop Merchant and his League of Merchants from operating their black-market weapons deal in the Video Game Kingdom."

"And instead he came over to Cartoon Land and reformed the League of Merchants," Danny interrupted, "The hideout I mentioned earlier belonged to them."

"What about you, Mr. Buck Teeth?" Leon rudely asked Timmy, "What's your story?"

Timmy briefly explained his history, how his family had been killed during the Two-Day War and how he and his friends had made it to the Capital. They eventually were killed during an operation and he had been lucky enough to survive.

"I never did find out who killed them," Timmy finished, "they were, rather viciously, killed by shuriken. Though I saw a few of them during my time in the Capital, whoever did it is still a mystery."

Leon sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry that you haven't found any closure with that. I hope someday you can give their killer the justice they deserve."

Timmy shrugged, "Since becoming a Jedi, I've learned to not really seek revenge. If I find who did it, great, but if I don't, I don't."

"Doesn't seem like that's healthy to not have closure on something so huge," Leon shook his head in confusion, "What about you, Mr. Fenton?"

"My story isn't anywhere near as interesting," Danny confessed, "Used to live in Amity Park with my ghost hunting parents. You can guess what happened to them. Joined up with the rebellion and now I'm the lead colonel of the forces along the Western Front."

"Ghost hunters?" Leon asked, "I've seen some monsters in my day, but ghosts? You've gotta be kidding me."

Timmy took over, "Oh they exist alright! Amity Park even had its own ghost boy that would hunt down rogue ghosts before the Loyalist coup. I think he stole your name, didn't he Danny? Wasn't he called Danny Phantom or something like that?"

Danny smiled, "Yeah, surprised you remember!" In truth, Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were one and the same. Danny had kept his ghost powers under a low profile ever since the war began and only used them sparingly. When Leon had shot at them at the Remembrance Rocks, Danny had turned part of his body intangible to avoid being shot.

"I visited Amity Park once in the past, which is when I met Danny and his friends," Timmy grinned.

"So, I see you've got your light stick and a sword," Leon pointed, "And Danny-boy here has at least one gun. But what else do you have?"

"What else would we need?" Timmy asked.

Leon shook his head as he pointed to several bags attached to the saddle of his horse, "I've got enough munitions here from the Video Game Kingdom to annihilate a small army. You can't be too careful."

Timmy and Danny rolled their eyes at how overboard their new friend had prepared as the three continued to ride along towards their goal.

Inside the hideout of the League of Merchants, Merchant took pride in showing the Six-Gum Gang the various accomplishments of his gang. Merchant first pointed out the stable where the League kept carts and horses for moving shipments across the desert.

Acting as a tour guide, Merchant boasted about the history of his group, "Originally I founded this group inside the Video Game Kingdom as a sort of black-market weapons deal. When Wesker took power, he tried to do away with it, so I just moved shop. My other video game merchants all went soft on me, but I found just as willing replacements here in Cartoon Land, so the League of Merchants remained."

"So ya'll still make weapons?" Runt asked, interested.

Merchant chuckled, "Of course we do. After I took power in the regime, I brought it to the attention of my peers of my little operation and convinced them to look the other way just so long as my buds continued to make and supply weapons to the Loyalists."

"And it's worked wonders so far!" yelled a League member.

Merchant smiled back as he continued, "All the hard to come by arms and armaments are supplied by us. We have the connections."

Several members of the Six-Gum Gang were looking at the collected weaponry in awe, some even trying to pocket a gun or two. Whenever someone tried something, Runt would snap his fingers and the other gang member would immediately stop and continue with the tour.

"Sometimes, though, we run across some bad merchandise," Merchant pointed to a couple corpses in an area, "Bad set of explosives. Can someone take care of these bodies?"

"Sorry, M," a League member informed as he passed by, "We're all just so busy today that none of us have time right now."

"Say boys, could you take care of that little errand while I'm giving the tour!" Merchant shouted back to Cyclops, Snah, and Corpla.

Cyclops pointed the twins toward the bodies, "You heard him."

"Why us," Corpla complained, "Why not get one of the peons to do it!"

Snah agreed, "We have much better things that we could be doing rather than play custodian!"

Cyclops ordered, "It's not a suggestion."

"You're lucky The Master likes you," Snah huffed.

"If you weren't around, we'd be the ones giving orders," Corpla whined.

Cyclops rolled his eyes as the twins got to work carrying the dead bodies away. Snah and Corpla had developed nasty egos and desperately needed to be taken down a peg. Cyclops thought about doing this himself, but he knew that if he were the one to do it, there would probably be nothing left of the brothers. It seemed to Cyclops that the twins' egos stemmed from their private maze in the underground of the Capital building. They used that place as their own playhouse, customizing it for each and every poor soul that was sent there. While Cyclops knew that he sometimes could be blind in his worship of The Master, he also knew that Snah and Corpla were essentially yes-men, just trying to get on the good side of The Master so he would reward them.

Snah and Corpla carried the dead bodies up to the stable, depositing them into the back of one of the carts one at a time.

"They'll just have to drive it out to the desert and drop the bodies off," Corpla shrugged.

Snah smiled, "No way are we going to be the ones to do that, right brother?"

"Right," Corpla smiled back, the two brothers walking back afterword to retrieve another body.

In the desert, the three horses continued their journey as Timmy, Leon, and Danny kept an eye on the tracks in the sand to see if they split off anywhere. Suddenly the tracks seemed to vanish as Danny stopped his horse.

"Uh, we might have a problem," worried Danny.

Leon asked, "What's the problem, you know where this hideout is, don't you?"

"Well," Danny admitted, "I don't know EXACTLY where it is, which is why I was kind of hoping that the tire tracks would still be here."

"You mean that we're officially lost now?" Timmy wondered.

Danny did nothing but sigh heavily as Leon grumbled to himself about what a huge waste of time the whole thing was.

Timmy proposed an idea, "Why don't we all split off and see if we can find anything nearby?"

"And meet back up if we do find something?" Leon questioned.

"Sounds good to me," admitted Danny, "Fifteen minutes and after that we meet back here."

Leon charged ahead without another word as he still felt a bit apprehensive about the temporary partnership and was looking for any excuse to get away from the two. Danny went to the left while Timmy went to the right.

Timmy looked around at various rock formations in his area for any sign of tire tracks or hoof prints from horses. While nothing at first stood out to him, Timmy thought he heard a noise and quietly went over to investigate. Timmy took a deep breath and closed his eyes, meditating again to try and let the Force guide him to the correct path. As he concentrated, Timmy got off his horse and wandered into the rock formations. Opening his eyes again, Timmy walked slowly towards where he felt the Force guiding him. As he rounded a bend, Timmy suddenly spied the Loyalist vehicles from before parked in a hidden area as well as a stable with carts and horses. Though he knew that he should go back to tell his friends, Timmy's curiosity was getting the better of him. Timmy went over to where the vehicles were parked and gently touched the walls surrounding them. One of them felt hollow and Timmy concentrated on using the Force to see if he could move anything. The hollow wall rose right up with little effort, showing that the false wall was how the Loyalists were able to slip away from them so easily. As Timmy lowered the wall back down, he turned to leave the hideout and suddenly found himself facing two assailants that looked and dressed the same.

Snah smiled, "Well, well brother, look at what the cat dragged in."

"Looks like we bagged the buck-toothed beaver himself," Corpla sneered.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met," Timmy snidely replied to the brothers.

Snah scoffed, "How could you not know who WE are?!"

"You've seen us before, though you might not remember exactly," Corpla bragged.

Timmy thought before snapping his fingers, "One of you was at Camp Kidney after we took out Jonny 2x4."

Corpla smiled, "Good, you remember that at least...but you've seen us one other time before that, Turner."

Timmy again thought long and hard, but nothing came directly to mind, "Sorry, all you mooks just blend together after a while."

Snah was insulted, "How dare you! We are the great Snah and Corpla, two of the greatest Loyalist agents ever!"

Timmy shrugged, "Again, not really sure how you stand out from the countless fools that I've dealt with already."

"I'll admit our first meeting was only brief, but we had quite the impact," Snah grinned evilly.

Corpla opened his suit coat and yelled, "Maybe these will refresh your memory!"

As Corpla finished speaking, both he and Snah suddenly drew shuriken and each threw several at Timmy. Thinking quickly, Timmy pulled out his lightsaber and sliced, most of the thrown shuriken falling to pieces in front of him. Timmy took a deep breath, thankful at his quick reflexes, but suddenly a new thought hit him.

"Wait a minute," Timmy pieced together, "those weapons...the precision...the speed."

The twins giggled as they knew Timmy had finally figured out who they were.

Timmy stammered in shock, "Y-you two! You were the ones who killed my friends!"

With a massive grin on his face, Snah gleefully admitted, "Yes, though you were all just basic target practice for us that day."

"We don't know how you managed to survive," Corpla stated, "By our calculations, our shuriken should have hit all five of you."

"And had the rest of your rebel buddies not been there to save the day, we would have finished the job all those years ago," Snah finished, still sporting the evil grin.

Corpla grinned himself, "Now we have a chance to redeem ourselves."

Timmy felt a dormant anger awaken from deep within him that he had quelled for a very long time. These two smug bastards were the reason that his friends had all died and now they were gleefully rubbing it in his face. Though his Jedi training had told him that anger and revenge were not the way, right now Timmy was feeling a deep hatred and he did not care if he struck down the twins in pure rage.

"We thought that maybe your powers must have saved you," Corpla admitted.

"But now we don't have to worry about our one failure for any longer," Snah boasted.

Again, the brothers pulled out more shuriken and tossed them straight at Timmy. Not thinking as clearly this time, Timmy felt several of the blades slice open the sides of his arms and legs, making him bleed. This only helped to fuel the ever-growing anger inside of Timmy. Snah and Corpla laughed as they started to move around in a circle around Timmy and toyed with him some more, gently tossing more shuriken to make him bleed more, though nothing fatal yet. Timmy felt cuts and gashes appear on his chest, back, and even one across his left cheek.

"I didn't think it would be THIS easy," Snah laughed.

Corpla scoffed, "We might as well finish this now brother, he's just as worthless as those so-called 'friends' of his."

The cruel insult was the straw that broke the camel's back. Timmy's anger reached a boiling point. Corpla took stance to Timmy's right as Snah laughed from his left. Corpla laughed as well as he chucked one more shuriken with the intent to slice open Timmy's throat. Timmy suddenly shot out his hand in a Force attack as Corpla threw his weapon. Time slowed as the shuriken quickly zoomed back from whence it came, though Corpla was too unfocused to notice. Mere milliseconds after throwing the blade, the shuriken sped right back at Corpla and sliced clean through the top of his head, the blow knocking him to the ground, his scalp landing across the room. After landing with a thud, Corpla started to convulse, stopping after a few seconds and letting out a low death rattle. Snah did not realize what had happened at first, standing dumbfounded and unable to quite comprehend that his brother had just been killed.

"BROTHER!" Snah yelled as he growled and started to rush towards Timmy yelling like a maniac. Snah pulled out shuriken in both hands, intending to stab Timmy to death with them at close range. Timmy simply grabbed Snah's arms and pushed him back, shoving him hard to the ground. Still feeling pure rage, Timmy turned towards Snah with a fire in his eyes and pulled out his samurai sword, wanting to make Snah pay for each of his friend's deaths. Before Timmy brought down the sword on Snah, another sword met his own.

"Didn't think you'd find us here, Turner," Cyclops sneered, smiling at his rival and adversary.

Timmy only growled and turned to face Cyclops, swinging wildly and erratically. Cyclops easily parried each of the attacks and retaliated with several of his own. Though Timmy was not thinking very clearly, he did notice that the katana was not dictating his movements, almost as though the sword itself was not supporting him in his sudden quest for vengeance. As such, the amazing skills and techniques he could usually accomplish with the sword were now replaced with swinging the sword around like a maniac.

Cyclops shook his head, "Have you simply forgotten how to fight with your sword?"

"Shut up!" screamed Timmy in reply as he continued to swipe to kill Cyclops.

Cyclops skillfully dodged any attacks that Timmy used against him and, instead of swiping back to kill him, let Timmy tire himself out more and more. As Timmy's rage began to burn out, he felt himself swinging the sword slower and slower. Cyclops smiled when he felt that Timmy had reached a weak point and flipped his sword around in his hands, swinging the hilt like a bat and smacking Timmy right in the face. Timmy felt a sharp pain as Cyclops' hilt hit him dead center in his face. Timmy dropped to his knees in pain as Cyclops swung his sword again, smacking Timmy right in the side of the head with the hilt, knocking him unconscious for the time being.

"Pathetic," Cyclops muttered, "I thought for our last fight I'd be able to beat you fair and square, not a one-sided contest like this."

Cyclops turned to see Snah, still in shock, now kneeling over his brother's body in tears. As the tears continued to well, Snah slowly turned to Timmy's unconscious body and bared his teeth, rushing towards him in pure rage.

"Let me at the son of a bitch!" screamed Snah.

Cyclops held Snah back and stayed very apathetic, "Now is neither the time nor the place!"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Snah hissed at the top of his lungs.

Cyclops again shoved the shuriken thrower back, "We'll record this and send it to The Master like we were told! He'll reward the both of us handsomely if we send him a video of one of the most famous rebels being killed."

Snah was too upset to listen to reason as he knelt back by his brother's body and punched the ground a few times in rage as he continued to cry his eyes out. Cyclops sighed and carried Timmy's limp body towards the back of the League of Merchant's cave. By now Merchant, Runt, and others had gone out to see what had happened.

As he passed by Merchant, Cyclops explained, "We now have one of the most wanted rebels in our hands. We will make sure he suffers before his execution."

Merchant nodded, but turned to see the still emotional Snah in the distance, "What about him?"

"Give him a bit of time," Cyclops advised before coldly finishing with, "Put the dead one on the body cart."

Meanwhile, Danny and Leon had met back up after finding nothing in either direction. They had waited another fifteen minutes before suspecting something might be wrong.

"Where the hell is that kid?" Leon asked impatiently.

Danny looked around, "I don't know, it's not like him to be this late."

"Maybe he found them and wants to take all the credit himself," Leon pointed out.

"Sadly, I can't say that doesn't sound like Timmy," admitted Danny, "Though apparently he's become a lot less selfish since becoming a Jedi, he still is impulsive and jumps into situations headfirst without thinking clearly."

Leon pointed in the direction Timmy had left, "We'd better hurry and follow his tracks before some gust of wind covers them up."

Danny nodded as the two of them followed the hoof prints on their own horses before they found Timmy's horse abandoned outside of a seemingly random rock formation. Danny and Leon cautiously approached, looking around for any sign of Timmy. They left their horses and looked around for any footsteps or anything, but the desert had already covered up what tracks Timmy had left.

Danny thought of an idea as he spoke to Leon, "You check over by those other rocks, I'll get these ones."

"Fine by me," shrugged Leon as he checked the area assigned to him.

Danny ducked behind some of the rocks and whispered, "I'm going ghost!" transforming himself into his ghost half. Danny turned intangible and quickly sped through the rocks, looking around for any sign of Timmy. As he passed through, Danny spied movement in one of the caves and stopped to get a closer look. Two members of the League of Merchants were depositing Corpla's body onto the cart that had the other bodies on it already. Danny looked around while still invisible; making note of all entrances and exits. As he slowly hovered around, Danny also took note of all the enemies in the area and just the sheer amount of firepower they had at their disposal. As Danny went into another area, he suddenly spied Timmy being carried by Cyclops with Merchant, Snah, and the Six-Gum Gang following closely behind. Danny quickly sped back out and turned back to his human form and rushed out in the open to tell Leon.

"I've found it!" Danny proclaimed, "They've got Timmy in there alright."

Leon nodded and started towards the cave entrance, "Well let's get in there."

Danny suddenly stopped him, "Yeah there's quite a few of them in there. Looks like the League of Merchants never stopped their production."

"Is Merchant himself in there?" Leon asked, more worried about that than the sheer number of forces.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Yes he is, I spied him only briefly but he's in there with that gang of outlaws Timmy and I were hunting for as well."

"Let's waste no time then," Leon confidently replied as he kept trying to move past Danny into the cave.

Danny grabbed his arm and stopped Leon from moving again, "We need a plan."

"I've got one," Leon smiled back as he held up the saddle bags from his horse in his spare hand, "Now which ones would you like?"

Inside the cavern, Timmy slowly awoke and groggily looked around at his surroundings, rubbing the back of his head, feeling it dripping wet with both sweat and blood. Timmy had calmed down from his earlier burst of rage and as his vision cleared, he started noticing that he was surrounded by many figures. Timmy reached for his weapons but found both had been taken from him. He quickly tried to speed ahead and punch the first person he saw, but Timmy suddenly found himself shoved back to the ground and punched square in the back. Laughter echoed in his ears as he was punched several more times. As Timmy slowly lifted his head a boot kicked him right in the face, hurting him even more. Timmy groggily looked back up to see that Cyclops was the one who had just kicked him.

"C-Cyclops...," Timmy stammered, in too much pain to say much of anything else.

Cyclops smiled and chuckled, "Welcome to hell."

Again, Timmy tried to slowly raise himself up, but his wounds from Snah and Corpla as well as the beating he had just received were making it much harder. He did manage to make it up to his knees, desperately looking around the room to see if his weapons were anywhere close by, though Timmy did not see them, he found enough strength to raise his arm and pull over one of the many weapons the League of Merchants had on stock with the Force. Another hand grabbed the gun before he was able to aim at anyone and Timmy felt another punch in his side.

"Just to be safe, we can't be letting you have any weapons, stranger," laughed Merchant as his punch made Timmy reel again and almost collapse to the floor. Merchant took the weapon and walked away, Runt now stepping up.

"Now I hear ya have been causin' problems for our new friends here, amigo," Runt smiled as he pulled out his revolver, "But if'n what I was told is true, ya'll might make us some nice moolah after we put ya in the ground!"

Runt pistol-whipped Timmy right in the face, again making Timmy nearly collapse back to the ground, Timmy catching himself by putting one of his hands in the dirt. As Timmy tried to raise himself back up again, this time an angry Snah was standing right in front of him.

"You...little..." Snah started as he raised both of his fists and started to repeatedly punch Timmy repeatedly, "You took away my brother you son of a bitch!" Snah growled as he again withdrew a shuriken to try and kill Timmy with it.

Cyclops immediately went in and grabbed Snah's arm as Timmy finally collapsed to the ground in sheer pain, having used most of his strength to just stay up. Timmy breathed heavily as he tried to not focus on how hurt he was.

Cyclops shoved Snah away as he angrily ordered, "I already told you once we are going to video tape this for the General and the others to see! You're not going to mess this up for the rest of us with this little personal vendetta of yours!"

Snah scowled at Cyclops as he left the room in a rage, still plotting that he'd take his revenge on Timmy at some point.

"Now then," Cyclops continued, "we'll get the camera set up and end your miserable existence."

Laughter again echoed in the room as Timmy tried to summon any strength left in his body to no avail.

A member of the League of Merchants came up to Merchant carrying Timmy's weapons and asked, "Colonel, what should we do with these?"

Merchant shrugged, "Put them in with the melee weapons, nobody buys anything from that pile anymore anyway."

As the league member went away to do just that, he was stopped by Cyclops, "Leave them with me, I'll take them back to the other members of the Loyalist Command as additional proof of our friend's demise. But, just in case, leave them on a table outside of this room."

The league member nodded and left Timmy's weapons where he was instructed; far enough away that Timmy could not use the Force to grab them even if he had the strength to do so.

As the other villains got everything set up to record Timmy's death, two members of the league held Timmy up as Cyclops pulled out his sword, "I always knew this would be how it would end, Turner. Me being the last thing your waking eyes see."

As Cyclops began to swipe his sword, suddenly there came a loud explosion and sound of gunfire coming from the main room of the hideout. Screams and more explosions were heard as several more members of the league came rushing into the side room.

"Sir the hideout is under attack!" One of the league members yelled.

Merchant quickly rallied his league as he ordered, "Defend the hideout! We'll dispose of this scum later!"

Cyclops bared his teeth, "Hurry up and repel these stupid rebels!"

Merchant, Cyclops, the Six-Gum Gang, and the league members all hurried out of the side room to defend the hideout, leaving the battered and beaten Timmy all alone. Timmy started to drag himself out of the room, moving very slowly but steadily.

Leon and Danny, meanwhile, had begun to open fire on the hideout with everything they had, Leon had indeed packed a small arsenal and they were putting it to good effect. Thanks to all the weaponry and ammo inside the hideout, any small explosion they caused was also destroying the League of Merchants' stockpile, creating more destruction.

"Just make sure you avoid lobbing anything into that back room, that's where I saw them take Timmy," Danny advised.

Leon nodded, "I'll make sure that Merchant gets one right between his eyes as well."

Leon was carrying several weapons, peeking out and opening fire whenever possible. As one of his weapons would run out of ammo, he'd just switch to another one to continue his assault, stopping to reload only when he felt completely safe. Danny would peek out, fire off a few rounds, and try to move ahead as quickly as possible to try and help his friend. While the League of Merchants were used to crafting weapons, they were not used to combat and, as such, were easily gunned down whenever one of them tried to take out the two assailants. In the confusion, several members of the league even ended up killing each other, accidentally thinking they were one of the intruders.

Timmy continued to slowly crawl on the ground through the hideout as gunfire and explosions happened around him, several bodies falling around him. Nobody seemed to notice as he continued to drag himself forward, trying to reach the garage area.

"Give me an idea of how many intruders we are dealing with!" Merchant ordered.

One of the league members from near the front of the cave replied, "It seems like there's-," another shot echoed just as the member was trying to relay his information, his body dropping to the ground.

"We can't be sure of how many there are, several for sure!" another member finished.

Another explosion rocked the cave as more of the stockpile was destroyed, causing the small table that had Timmy's weapons to fall out and spill everything to the ground. As Timmy continued to crawl away both the katana and his lightsaber rolled right in front of him, Timmy carefully attached both of his weapons to himself and continued to drag himself away from the battle, still unnoticed.

Merchant and several league members were shooting at anything that appeared to move at the front of the cave, still not knowing how many were attacking them. Meanwhile the Six-Gum Gang were hiding out in cover, they only fought if they had any kind of tactical advantage and were going to wait out the attackers. Merchant ordered a ceasefire when he realized there was no return fire for several seconds. Merchant stood up and looked around the cave for any sign of movement.

Leon inched closer towards the back whenever he had a free moment; he poked his head out and spied Merchant, his target, standing alone and unguarded. Leon stood up and fired a spray of bullets towards Merchant.

As Merchant spied the unknown figure shoot at him, he felt a twinge of fear and tried to duck down as fast as he could. One of the league members leaped from their cover and took the bullets for Merchant, who quickly ducked back behind cover as others returned fire.

Merchant thought the figure looked strangely familiar until it finally struck him, 'Why if it isn't my former best customer, the Stranger. Last I heard he was tooling around as some kind of government agent.'

Leon backed away slowly as his cover was fired upon, trying to move around the cave to keep confusing the League of Merchants. Meanwhile Danny was still popping in and out of cover as well, firing at anyone still alive at the front of the cave and occasionally throwing grenades towards the back of the cave away from the shack.

As Leon was playing cat and mouse with their enemies, Timmy was slowly gaining more strength even though he was still bleeding and bruised. Timmy crawled towards a side area to get to the garage or somewhere else he could hide while he regained more strength.

Snah sped back to the room where Timmy was being held, in all the chaos he felt that he could take his revenge. Snah looked around for any sign of his enemy but Timmy was nowhere in sight. Snah growled in rage when he spied a trail of blood leading out of the door. Snah scowled as he followed it, taking out a shuriken for precaution.

Danny and Leon both ducked under the same cover as they still were being fired upon.

"I'm almost out of ammo," Danny informed, "There were more of these guys than I thought."

Leon shook his head, "I'm almost out as well, I even shot at Merchant and one of his minions took the fall. We gotta head over to the garage while they still think they're under attack."

Danny nodded, "Right. I'll see if I can sneak to the back while they're still distracted and try to get Timmy out of there."

"I'll use the last of my explosives and provide cover fire while you go for it," Leon suggested.

Danny peeked out of cover for a moment, "Aim for their ammo storage near the back, it'll light this whole place up."

"Good call," Leon admitted as Danny started to make his way around to the garage.

Timmy dragged himself towards the garage, noticing a smaller shack that seemed hastily built near the back. Moving closer, Timmy could spy a motorcycle parked inside this shack. Cyclops did not trust his personal vehicle to sit out with the other vehicles and horses. As Timmy groaned, he mustered whatever strength he had in his body to try and stand back up on his feet, slowly but surely raising himself up as he braced up against the door to help him along the way. The rickety door squeaked and shook as it was not used to any real amount of weight pressing against it. At long last, Timmy helped himself back up to his feet, though he still was very unsteady. The creaky door was ready to fall off its rusted hinges at any time but stayed in place as Timmy still propped himself up against it. Timmy exhaled as he could hear the gunfire in the other parts of the cave starting to die down.

Suddenly a whiz came from across the way as Timmy felt his left arm get pinned up against the door by his shirt. Before Timmy could react, there were several more whizzes in the air as he felt, one by one, his limbs were pinned up against the door by his clothes. Timmy glanced at the objects keeping him pinned, spying that they were shuriken. As Timmy focused his vision across the room, another shuriken sped towards his right side, this one pinning a small bit of his shirt right beside his right hand, but also accidentally knocking out one of the flimsy hinges holding the door in place. Timmy took a quick mental note of this as he spied his attacker slowly walking towards him.

Snah approached slowly as he withdrew another shuriken and flung it, pinning Timmy's left hand down as he had done his other limbs. Snah reached into his suit coat and withdrew several shuriken in between his fingers and held them up with the blades pointed towards Timmy as he walked closer. Snah grimaced as he closed his hands into fists, sticking himself with his own shuriken in the process but giving his knuckles a razor-sharp punch.

Snah raised one of his hands readying up for a punch as he proclaimed, "And this...is for my brother."

As Snah lunged towards Timmy, Timmy leaned his full weight back against the loose door, causing the door to fall off the hinges completely and shove itself back against one of the walls. Snah missed with his lunge and fell onto the floor. The shuriken holding down Timmy's right hand was also loose, allowing just enough time for Timmy to grab it and ready his aim. Snah turned around in rage as Timmy chucked the shuriken dead center into the chest of his enemy. Snah groaned in pain as he dropped the shuriken he was carrying; he clutched at his chest as he exhaled and lied motionless on the ground, dead before he even knew what had hit him. In the end, Snah and Corpla's blind rage and overconfidence led to their deaths.

"And that was for my friends," Timmy coldly replied as he started to free himself from his trap. It did not take Timmy long to pluck out the remaining shuriken and toss aside the broken door, taking a quick peek at his foe on the floor to make sure he was dead. Timmy felt a presence with the Force as he tried to withdraw one of his weapons only for Danny to walk into the shack.

"Timmy, thank god you're alive!" Danny sighed with relief but took a quick look at how beaten and bruised Timmy was, "Just hold on, Leon and I will get you out of here, man."

"I'm fine," Timmy lied as he groaned loudly.

Danny grabbed Timmy to help steady him, "You've always been a really bad liar," Danny joked.

Timmy chuckled slightly as he suddenly thought, "Hold on, go put this guy on that cart with the bodies out there."

"Why the heck would we need to do that?" Danny questioned.

"This guy seemed like he was a big deal for the Loyalists," Timmy explained, "We'll try to make it seem like we have a hostage when the rest of them try to chase us down."

Danny looked impressed, "That's...actually not a half bad idea; you wait here," Danny propped Timmy up against a wall as he quickly carried Snah's body and put it on the cart with the dead bodies of the League of Merchants and Corpla. Danny returned and grabbed Timmy again, taking him over to the cart this time.

"As much as I'd prefer to take the vehicles, I doubt the keys are just sitting in the ignition for us," Danny mused.

Just then, Leon came around to the garage in a full sprint carrying a pair of hastily made Molotov cocktails.

Leon noticed the two immediately, "Oh good, you found him. I think it's best if we start the retreat now, though."

"I did, but he's hurt," Danny relayed as he carefully sat Timmy down in the seat of the body cart, Danny taking a seat next to him and taking the reins of the horses.

Leon threw the Molotovs at the doorway where Timmy had crawled out from, trying to buy them a few more precious seconds of escape time. Leon also set up a small explosive tripwire inside the vehicles, causing deadly results for anyone that broke the tripwire. As Leon looked around for more things to sabotage, he spied the shack and peered inside, seeing Cyclops' motorcycle.

"Jackpot," Leon smiled as he found the keys were still in the ignition.

Danny had everything prepared on the cart as he waited, "Hurry Leon, we gotta go!"

Before he could yell again, Danny heard an engine turn over and the distinct revving of a motorcycle as Leon burst out of the small shack riding the motorcycle and fired a round from a grenade launcher blowing up the hollow wall.

As Leon dropped the empty launcher he sped forward, leaving the cave as fast as he could without saying another word.

Danny sighed and flipped the reins causing the scared horses to hurry out of the dangerous cave. The other horses in the cave also used the time to break loose of their pens and hurry out of the open door in fear from all the noise and fires. One of the horses was still pulling a smaller cart that contained all the swords, spears, and melee weaponry that the league was unable to sell to any clients.

As the motorcycle engine was revving, Cyclops' ears perked up and he angrily turned toward the garage, "That's mine! MINE!"

Cyclops broke from cover and tried to run to the garage only to be met by a wall of fire from Leon's Molotovs. Cyclops growled as he ran around to the front with the entire Six-Gum Gang behind him.

A League of Merchants member who was attempting to extinguish the fire before any more weapons or ammo exploded turned to Merchant, "Sir, it's becoming harder and harder to contain the blaze, but we might be able to get back to the special weaponry."

"Is anyone still stationed back there?" Merchant asked, concerned.

The league member shook his head, "I don't think anyone else is alive back there."

With a heavy heart, Merchant gave an order, "Pass it along to everyone to get to the garage, we'll go after those bastards and make sure they pay." Merchant next raised his voice louder so others could hear, "Evacuate the base! Get to the vehicles!"

Members of the league scrambled out of hiding and tried to grab anything that was salvageable weapon-wise, several heading towards the two vehicles. Cyclops stared in rage and anger at the destroyed shack, noticing the dropped shuriken and what appeared to be two separate trails of blood. As most of the remaining league members piled in weapons into the vehicles, many of them climbed into the seats, avoiding opening the doors. Unfortunately one unlucky league member opened up the driver side door where Leon had placed one of his tripwires, snapping the wire and causing the explosive to detonate, the explosion reacted to the other weapons and ammo in the vehicle as it caused a chain reaction of more detonations, flames spreading to the second vehicle where a similar situation happened, killing many league members and destroying what weaponry they had been able to salvage.

As Merchant was still attempting to get his forces to leave, several of his troops came back from the garage area set ablaze and screaming in agony after the explosions. Merchant raised a reluctant finger as several of his still living forces immediately took aim and fired their weaponry at the ones on fire to mercifully end their pain. As the league members mowed down their former comrades, one by one a click sound was heard from each of them as they emptied the last of their ammo. Merchant felt slightly remorseful at the deaths of his comrades but realized that they were in a better place.

Another league member came over to Merchant, "Sir, the prisoner has vanished!"

"What?" Merchant gasped incredulously.

The league member replied, "He must have gotten away in all the confusion."

"Come on," Merchant ordered to whatever troops were still alive, "Leave the rest and let's get the hell out of here."

Immediately the few remaining league members dropped what they were doing and sprinted as fast as they could towards the garage. As they ran more explosions grew behind them as more of their cache of weaponry and ammo was igniting from the strong blaze of fire. Merchant hurried outside as he saw Runt, the entire Six-Gum Gang, and Cyclops were already outside safe from harm. Merchant helped whatever members of his own decimated group he could, he knew still more were inside. Inside the cave, the heavy weaponry was now ablaze, including several rocket launchers causing a few to malfunction and fire instead of exploding right away, launching off to various parts of the cave, causing more devastation. One rocket even zoomed over to right above the garage opening, collapsing the ceiling and crushing several fleeing league members and leaving others trapped inside. Merchant quickly sped over and attempted to help his guys out of their predicament, a small hole allowing him to peer inside at them. As they cried for help Merchant and whoever was left tried to move the rubble out of the way, but it was immovable without mechanical assistance. Merchant stood back up and gave a salute to the pile of rubble and motioned for anyone with ammo remaining to stick the muzzles of their guns inside the hole and put the others out of their misery. A couple league members stepped up and took aim inside, spraying their bullets wall to wall on whatever poor soul was still alive. A few seconds after starting, their guns clicked as they emptied what little bullets they had remaining. Merchant came over and peered inside to see if anyone was still alive. Upon seeing a shaky hand raise up, Merchant took out one of his revolvers and fired a single shot, the hand fell lifeless beside the dead man as Merchant sighed and turned to face his few remaining teammates.

"Who still has ammo?" Merchant asked, to which several more league members tested their own guns to find they had run out of ammo as well. One league member held down his trigger as three shots rang out before his gun clicked as well and he threw his gun down on the ground in disgust. Outside of Merchant himself, none of his remaining league members had any ammo left for their weapons.

"Merchant!" yelled Cyclops as he motioned for Merchant to meet him privately.

As Merchant walked over to him, Cyclops began to relay what information he had picked up while still in the cave, "I noticed a ton of discarded weapons near where the rebels infiltrated us. Usually they would not leave behind an empty weapon on the ground unless they were dead. I believe we were dealing with a small, heavily armed group, could not be more than two. They were clearly there for Turner and took the body cart with them to try and mask their numbers."

"Where did that shuriken thrower guy go?" Merchant asked as he looked around at everyone still alive.

Cyclops scoffed, "Snah is dead; I found two piles of blood in the garage. Obviously, our friend tried to dispense justice towards Turner his own way and paid for it when our intruders discovered him."

"What are you proposing we do? We aren't exactly in the best fighting shape nor do we have many weapons with which to fight," Merchant pointed out, still flabbergasted over the whole situation.

Cyclops pointed out to the desert, "We can still follow them back to where they came from, though conversing with our outlaw friends it seems to them that the only thing out that way are those rocks they like to hang out at."

"The Remembrance Rocks?" questioned Merchant, "But what the hell are the rest of my men to fight with?"

Cyclops pointed over to where the horses from the cave had gathered and were grazing, the horse that was pulling the small cart with melee weapons was still there.

Merchant quickly gathered his forces and took what horses they needed as he addressed the League of Merchants a short while later, "We are going to pursue our attackers and make them pay for their transgression!"

The league said nothing as some looked dejectedly down at the ground. Merchant noticed the lack of morale and quickly grabbed a small flagpole that had been attached to the cart. Merchant held the flag high as it showed off the symbol for the League of Merchants, a backpack and a gun.

"I know we've been through hell already today," Merchant bellowed, "but we know where those bastards are at and we can make them pay for each one of our comrades that now lies dead in our former stronghold. Let us show them what happens when they mess with the League of Merchants!"

A hoorah came from many of the remaining league members as one that was still skeptical asked, "What are we supposed to fight with?"

"With these," Merchant answered as he held up a sword in his other hand, "Swords, shields, axes, and spears, all these things that we could not sell to our clients now are the very things that we have to rely on. I know I ask a lot of you, but anyone who is still willing to fight come claim a weapon, get on a horse, and let's go show them what we are made of!"

Another cheer came up as, one by one, the remaining members of the league started to take various melee weapons off the cart, some taking a sword and shield, others taking just a spear or just an axe, soon nineteen out of the twenty league members that were alive were armed up and mounted on horses ready to charge into battle. As the last league member came up to the cart, to his dismay he spied it was empty. Merchant saw this and quickly gave the man the flagpole with the league's insignia.

"You will carry this to inspire morale in our soldiers," Merchant ordered, "You will stay close to Cyclops and me."

The man saluted and quickly got on a horse, taking his place at the head of the pack. The Six-Gum Gang members were on their own horses, ready to go back to one of their favorite places where they typically had the upper hand.

Cyclops, Merchant, and Runt were at the front of the group relaying some last-minute information with each other.

"With as many weapons as those rebels left behind, they must also be struggling ammo-wise," Cyclops suggested, "Let the league go in first. If they have any firearms left, they might end up wasting it on them."

Merchant scowled back, "My guys are risking their lives for this! They are not to be used as simple cannon fodder!"

"I know that you recognized one of those intruders," smiled Cyclops, "I could tell he was clearly from your home country, is he an old enemy of yours, perhaps come for revenge?"

Merchant continued his scowl, saying nothing in reply.

Cyclops shrugged, "I was just thinking that your troops might be able to prove their honor by killing your old enemy for you."

"Very well," Merchant begrudgingly sighed as he turned away as his thoughts returned to Leon, knowing that his forces would most certainly die if he was still involved.

"Where do you want me an' the boys?" Runt asked, anxious to get back into the fight.

"If Merchant's boys are taken down," Cyclops grinned, "Your group may have them all to yourself. I recall you have a fondness for that stretch of land?"

Runt grinned himself, "We know the Rememberin' Rocks like the back of our hands."

"If you manage to kill them and bring me back Turner's body, our earlier agreement will be replaced and you will be granted amnesty immediately," Cyclops chuckled.

"Well then," Runt mounted on his horse, "What are we waiting for? Yee-haw!"

Cyclops and a very distant Merchant mounted up on their own horses. Cyclops gave a hand signal and the group started to gallop at full speed to counteract against the rebels. Merchant signaled for the flag carrier to join himself, Cyclops, and Runt up front as the League of Merchants and the Six-Gum Gang rode onwards. The Six-Gum Gang, including Runt, numbered at twenty-five, the remaining League of Merchants members were twenty, along with Merchant and Cyclops, the group of forty-seven strong hurried towards the Remembrance Rocks to face off against a group of only three, Danny, Leon, and the heavily injured Timmy.

While Leon sped ahead with Cyclops' stolen motorcycle, Danny did what he could to bandage Timmy and help him try to keep his stamina up.

"We're not out of the woods yet Timmy," Danny cautioned, "I know it hurts but we need to keep you in a safe place, especially if they come after us."

Timmy sensed what was going on back at the League of Merchants' hideout but said nothing, waiting to see if he could sense their strength and see if they were pursuing them. As the three of them got back to the Remembrance Rocks, Leon parked the motorcycle and slammed down several empty guns he had forgotten to drop back at the hideout.

"Well," Leon asked, "What now?"

"First, we take inventory. You don't just piss off a group of black-market weapons dealers and expect them to forget about it in the morning," Danny advised, "What have we got left?"

Leon exhaled as he felt around for any weapons or ammo left on his person. Leon started to lay down what weapons he still had left on a flat rock so they could devise a plan.

Leon began to explain, "Well I have my custom, dual handguns which have eighteen rounds a piece left in them. There's a magnum pistol still with six shots left in it. A machine gun with thirty bullets left as well as a shotgun attachment with one shot left. Finally, I have a sawed-off shotgun with two bullets in the chamber and two to spare."

"I have my own pistol that still has a full clip in it," Danny chimed in as he laid down his own gun, "12 shots."

"Oh!" Leon remembered as he laid down a grenade on the flat rock, "And I have one last grenade remaining."

Danny looked worried, "That's not a whole heck of a lot, I would count Timmy's weapons as well but he's in no condition to fight. To make matters worse the Six-Gum Gang is with them as well. It's been rumored that they like to use this area as they can split off into groups and make use of their effective numbers."

Leon summed it up, "So basically, you mean to tell me we're screwed."

"Yeah, pretty much," Danny admitted.

"I know you guys are treating me like I'm a third wheel," Timmy butt in, "But I'm not going to go down without a fight."

Danny stopped his friend, "Not a chance in hell, you're already one foot in the grave and I'm not going to be the one to explain to Grim and Squidward why you ended up as animal food out in the middle of the desert!"

"I like your spirit, kid," Leon admitted, "But he's right, what can you do in that condition?"

Timmy closed his eyes and relaxed, sensing back to the cave where he could feel the approach of Merchant and Cyclops through the Force.

"It's Merchant and Cyclops," Timmy relayed, "They're coming here."

"Oh hell," protested Danny, "Can you tell how strong they are?"

Timmy focused again for a brief second, "At least forty."

"Forty?!" Leon sputtered, "We're not gonna last through twenty, let alone double that amount!"

"Though it seems that most of them are only armed with swords and spears," Timmy stated, "You must have destroyed enough of their guns that they had to result to desperate measures themselves."

Leon groaned, "Well, genius, what in the hell are we supposed to do?"

"This is a shrine for the dead, isn't it?" Timmy replied, "There might be weaponry from a fallen warrior somewhere around here or the Six-Gum Gang might have a stash located somewhere close."

"Hold on, I'll check," Danny volunteered as he sped off to where the others couldn't see. Danny quickly went ghost and started to search through the rocks to see if he could find anything. Sure enough, there were a few places where random swords, axes, spears, arrows, etc. were scattered about, marking several rocks in particular that were remembering fallen warriors.

Danny came back a few minutes later carrying what he could find during his search, "Timmy you were right on, we've got a little bit of everything it seems like."

"Great..." Leon murmured.

"What's wrong?" Danny chided, "No experience with the old-fashioned weapons?"

Leon huffed, "I can handle them fine, but I just prefer to take my enemies out from a distance. I don't have good experiences with close-quarters combat."

"Focus you two!" Timmy demanded, "They'll be here soon, and we have to prepare."

"So, what the hell is the big plan?" Leon questioned.

Timmy began, "Danny, you said that the Six-Gum Gang knows this place so well and that they like to split off down the multiple paths. Well, for starters, if they supposedly know this place so well, they might get a bit over careless and not notice any cleverly hidden little booby traps in all the little nooks and crannies of the rocks."

Leon smiled, "I like the way you think, kid."

"Since this middle area is really only useful for getting to the two outside portions, if each of you took one of the outer paths, that would funnel whoever else is left down here," Timmy continued, "And when the Six-Gum Gang enters, they might be in for such a shock down their familiar paths that they might either head to the outside of the rocks or into the middle as well."

"I see," Danny finished, "next we can enter from the outer paths to the middle here and wipe out anyone that is left with what little ammunition we have."

"Exactly," agreed Timmy, "Or you might also be able to take out some of them in your areas as well."

Leon chuckled, "What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

Danny stopped, "First thing's first, Timmy, I found a spot to hide you and that motorcycle. The cart will be fine where it is, since I doubt they'd want to destroy their friend's bodies."

"I can fight!" Timmy pleaded.

Danny shook his head, "Out of the question, you can barely walk on your own let alone fight."

Timmy rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine, but if things start to go to hell you won't be able to keep me held back."

As Danny helped Timmy stand back up, Timmy swiped the grenade off the rock containing the weaponry and hid it from view. Leon wheeled the motorcycle back as Danny gently set Timmy down on the ground in a small little nook in the middle area that was very well hidden from sight. Leon parked the motorcycle in there as well. Next, he and Danny walked away to prepare their traps, but first wiped away the tracks from the motorcycle to Timmy's hiding place.

"How do we want to divide this?" Danny asked as he and Leon looked over the remaining guns.

Leon thought, "You take your pistol, obviously, but take the magnum and the machine gun as well. I'll have my own handguns and the sawed-off shotgun."

"Perfect," Danny replied taking the assigned weapons as he went off to prepare his own traps and ready himself for battle.

As Leon and Danny prepared, Timmy took out the grenade and thought what to do with it before spying Cyclops' motorcycle and coming up with an idea.

A short time later, Danny was using a pair of binoculars to see if he could see anything out in the distance. Danny spied a large cloud of dust as he zoomed in and focused on a small group of horses coming towards their location. Danny hurriedly grabbed several spears and a sword to arm up for the initial stage of combat and ran over to his section of the rocks. As Danny ran into the middle area, he gave a quick hand signal to Leon who went over to his own section, grabbing an axe and leaving his spare melee weapons on a rock close by to grab just in case. Both Danny and Leon hid behind a rock as they waited for the assault to begin.

Inside his hiding spot, Timmy meditated as he tried to summon up enough strength to help his friends in the tough fight ahead, again feeling a strange presence as he had before. It felt warm and inviting, but still strong and imposing. Timmy could feel this figure almost watching over him as, instead of his lightsaber, Timmy readied his sword for what he felt like would be its final battle.

On the outskirts of the Remembrance Rocks, Merchant gave the signal for the League of Merchants to head into the rocks first, the group splitting up to go down the two outer paths and traverse in and out of the maze-like area. Merchant, Cyclops, and the flag carrier stayed on their horses overlooking the soon-to-be battlefield as Runt and his gang got off their horses and lazed about as they waited for their inevitable turn.

The two groups of Merchant's flunkies split off and headed down their separate paths, weapons at the ready as they all looked for any sign of movement. Leon and Danny could hear the approaching horses as they readied their weapons. As several league members galloped down in a row, Leon began the offensive in his section as he popped out of his hiding place and swung his axe, smacking a league member right in the stomach, almost chopping him in half. As he fell, Leon swung again hitting the second league member in the same spot who fell with a loud groan. The third league member slowed his horse down as Leon swung a third time; Leon instead killed the horse and caused the man to fall onto the ground. As Leon quickly ran up to finish him off, the man tried to reach for his weapon but found it had been lost as he fell, the league member quickly held up his hands and waved them in a pleading manner, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Leon brought his axe down on the man who collapsed to the ground. More members of the League of Merchants sped towards their fallen comrades, hoping to avenge them. As Leon planted his axe down again on the third man's body, a fourth league member passed by him, Leon attempted to swing at him but missed as Leon quickly ran forwards to intercept the next man. Before the league member could react, he felt Leon's axe enter his shoulder as he fell forward off his horse to the ground, his horse galloping over his body as he lay still.

Over in Danny's area, Danny let the first few league members pass by his hiding spot. After he took a deep breath, Danny went out and stuck his spear into the chest of the next league member that passed him. Danny turned around and thrust his spear through the back of a League of Merchants member that had just passed him. As the man fell with a scream, Danny stuck him once more on the ground to make sure he was dead.

Leon prepared himself as he saw a few more league members approaching him. Leon chucked his axe as one got close, hitting that one and causing him and his horse to collapse. A second league member quickly galloped over to try and kill the unarmed Leon who hurried back to the rock with his weapons. Leon grabbed another axe and sliced just as the league member was ready to slash at Leon, Leon hit the man in the small of the back. The man slumped over his horse as he softly gargled, and his grip loosened. Leon spied another league member in the distance as he took aim again and threw the axe with all his might, impaling the man in the side who loudly groaned and fell from his horse. Leon spied a few more League of Merchants members heading towards the center of the rocks. In response, Leon grabbed a sword and quickly ran towards the center.

Danny meanwhile shoved his spear across the stomach of another man who screamed and fell right in front of Danny. Danny ducked into a crevice and stuck out his spear as an unsuspecting league member passed by, sticking the poor man in the face and causing him and his horse to fall over, his horse falling on top of the dead league member. Danny now hurried towards the center as he spied a few more league members moving towards the middle.

As he entered the middle, Leon noticed a man immediately ride up towards him, Leon swung his sword on instinct as the league member loudly screamed and collapsed to the ground along with his horse. Another league member who had just entered the center cried out and started to chase after Leon, backing him up into a corner a short time later. Leon prepared to swing the sword when, out of the corner of his eye, Danny came up beside Leon and stabbed the league member with his spear. Leon gave him a thumbs up as they repositioned themselves. Danny whistled as another league member sped towards him, raising his weapon for combat. As he got closer, Leon, who was hiding a few rocks ahead of Danny, stuck out his sword, decapitating the league member almost instantly. Leon and Danny went their separate ways again as the small number of league members left galloped in and out of the rocks in confusion. As two members stopped and tried to get their bearings, Leon popped out of a crevice and yelled, slashing once for each member. The two never knew what had hit them as they both fell to the ground. Likewise, Danny sneaked up behind a stopped league member and thrust his spear, sticking the man in the side causing him to fall with a scream. Danny prepared to finish off the injured league member with another spear jab.

On the overlook, Cyclops was peering at the battlefield through a pair of Loyalist binoculars equipped with a primitive motion sensor.

"I'm not seeing a whole lot of life down there anymore," Cyclops admitted to Merchant, "I can barely see through these damn rocks but I'm making out two moving on foot every so often. I also can see there are at least two of your league members still alive down there that are sticking together."

Merchant could only stare as he turned back to Runt and gave a nod.

"Yee-haw, let's get down there and do some huntin', boys!" Runt encouraged as his gang took out their guns and started to fire in the air in early celebration.

"Same as usual, boss?" asked an outlaw.

Runt blew a bubble and replied, "Of course, split off and let's have us some fun!"

Still firing their guns wildly and yahooing loudly, the Six-Gum Gang quickly raced down on foot towards the Remembrance Rocks, quickly popping into the closest nooks and crannies of the rock maze. Eight outlaws would head down the left path and check the hiding spots there; eight would head down the right path, while Runt would lead the remaining eight down to the middle to take out anyone hiding there.

Danny was raising his spear to finish off the wounded league member when he heard the gunfire and yelling from outside of the rocks. Danny quickly dropped the spear and took out the magnum as he ran back towards the area he had set up his traps for the Six-Gum Gang. Likewise, Leon tossed the sword away and took out his handguns, heading towards his own booby-trapped location. The wounded league member groaned as he heard approaching gunfire and yells. As the Six-Gum Gang passed by him, one of the outlaws fired into the wounded man, finishing him off. The gang reloaded their weapons and started to quiet down as they proceeded to go to work and find the hiding rebels.

Over in Leon's path, three of the gang members were still whooping and hollering as they entered a familiar area, Leon inhaled as he poked out of his hiding spot and fired exactly six shots from his dual handguns. The outlaws groaned as each of them was hit multiple times from the piercing shots and all three fell to the ground. Leon suddenly had a return volley of fire as the other gang members fired back on his location. One of the outlaws signaled for a few of his allies to go around and ambush their prey from another side. Two ran off to separate areas, one was going to climb around and sneak up behind Leon while a second was heading towards his favorite sniping position. As the first one climbed up on the rocks and tried to avoid being seen, the second ducked in between two rocks but did not pay much attention to where he was walking. The gang member snapped the string holding one of the traps as a small arrow was fired from in between two rocks, impaling the outlaw in the throat who started to gag as he reached his hands up to the arrow, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he plopped to the ground. Leon started to trade back fire with the other gang members that were pinning him down, taking care to fire off only a few shots at a time to conserve ammo. Leon was already down to twenty-one bullets left so he knew he had to make every remaining shot count. Leon suddenly spied some small pebbles falling down from a larger rock above him. Leon took aim at where he believed his attacker would drop down from. A gang member popped down from above and chuckled, but Leon fired a single shot, killing him instantly. Leon put away his handguns for the time being and switched to the sawed-off shotgun. The last three gang members in his area were still hiding behind cover and refusing to move. Leon exhaled again as he prepared to leave his cover. Mustering a small amount of courage, Leon stood out of cover and moved ahead, trying to get into a new position. As Leon knelt behind another rock, two of the three outlaws popped out and opened fire on his location. Leon counted the number of shots in his head as he stood back up and took aim after he made sure his enemies were out of ammo. Leon fired off each shot of the sawed-off individually as both hit their targets dead on. Leon quickly reloaded the last two shells into the shotgun as he heard a click of a gun from behind him. The last gang member of this area had waited until his friends were dead to try and surprise Leon from behind. Leon simply pointed the shotgun over his shoulder and fired both barrels at once. The outlaw groaned and was flung backwards from the impact of the shells, killing him instantly. Leon turned to admire his handiwork and smiled, dropping the useless shotgun to the ground. Leon took out his handguns again as he started to make his way towards the center of the rocks.

In Danny's area, the Six-Gum Gang members approached with caution, looking around for any sign of movement. Danny waited until he heard a couple of the gang stop in place, presumably looking around for him. Danny used the opportunity to lean out of his cover and fire off two shots from the magnum, nailing both gang members square in their chests. The rest of the gang in that location fired in retaliation as Danny crawled from cover to cover without trying to be spotted. Again, a few of the gang split off to try and ambush their adversary as they had done many times in the past. Danny fired off a few shots to ward off his attackers but soon was down to his last magnum shot. Danny quickly noticed an approaching shadow to his right as he took aim. As a gang member came into view Danny fired, killing the outlaw with his last magnum shot. Another tried to approach from Danny's left, but stopped as he noticed a small tripwire blocking his path. The outlaw carefully stepped over it and chuckled to himself for noticing the almost hidden wire. With his next step, however, the gang member broke a second tripwire that he had not noticed; the first one had been a decoy. As the trap was sprung, a spike that had been held back with the tripwire swung around a corner, impaling the outlaw against it. Danny heard his trap pay off as the gang member groaned within earshot. Danny smiled as he readied the machine gun. Danny exhaled and stood up, time seeming to slow down as Danny started to spray the clip of the machine gun down the way. As luck would have it, several of the shots did manage to find their marks as, one by one, three of the gang would be hit and die under the hail of bullets. Danny heard a click as the one clip of the machine gun emptied. The last outlaw in the area laughed as he stood up from his hiding spot and aimed his weapon. Danny turned the gun sideways as Leon had showed him and fired off the last shell in the shotgun attachment, killing the last gang member in his area. Danny dropped the empty gun and took out his own handgun as he carefully went towards the middle of the rocks.

Runt instructed half of his guys to go in front to see if anything was still alive in the middle. The four criminals ran out to only find the dead bodies of the League of Merchants and any of their horses that had been killed. Suddenly there came a revving from an area in the center as two gang members cautiously approached it. From out of his hiding place, Timmy sped out riding on Cyclops' motorcycle with his sword drawn. Before the two lead gang members could do anything, Timmy slashed and stabbed at the two of them, killing them both. The other two quickly took aim but Timmy revved and sped up, zooming past the two outlaws just as they both shot. Since Timmy had moved out of the way, the two outlaws only ended up accidentally shooting each other. Runt watched everything unfold and waited to give the signal for the rest of his gang to jump out and surprise Timmy. Timmy was speeding towards one of the rocks and tried to move the motorcycle out of the way but he was still struggling with moving as he was still injured, instead Timmy flung himself off the back of the motorcycle and landed to the ground just before the motorcycle crashed into one of the rocks. Timmy lay on the ground and sighed. Runt and his four remaining gang hurried out and faced Timmy with the crashed motorcycle to their backs. Runt smiled as the five of them took aim with their guns. Timmy instead smiled a big smile as he twirled around the pin of the grenade he had stolen earlier on his finger. Timmy had attached the grenade to the motorcycle and pulled the pin right before the crash. Runt's eyes went wide as the explosion went off behind them, causing Cyclops' motorcycle to explode and hit the remaining members of the Six-Gum Gang with shrapnel as they all flew to the ground, propelled by the force of the detonation.

From the overlook, Cyclops heard the revving and seconds later heard the explosion as he dropped the binoculars and gritted his teeth together.

"I will make those bastards pay!" Cyclops vowed, "Come on Merchant, it's our turn!"

Cyclops took out his sword and yelled as he urged his horse to head into the rocks full speed. Merchant meanwhile calmly got off his horse as did the flag carrier. Merchant planted the flag in the ground and took out one of his revolvers and gave it to the former flag carrier.

"Stay close to me," Merchant advised, "I'll give you a signal when to break away from me."

The league member nodded as the two of them walked down towards the rocks to enter the battle.

Danny and Leon ran into the center at about the same time when they heard the explosion. Both saw Timmy laying on the ground and many dead Six-Gum Gang members around him.

"Timmy!" Danny asked concerned, "Are you okay?!"

Timmy smiled, "I've never been better!" Timmy groaned as he struggled but got back up on his own two feet and stood beside the two.

"You must be feeling better," mused Leon.

"Not really," Timmy groaned, "But I wasn't gonna let you two have all the fun."

All three of them laughed as Timmy held up his katana and Danny asked, "So what now?"

"This isn't over," Timmy told the others, "Merchant and Cyclops are coming, and I still sense a couple of guys still alive in here."

"Then we'll fight them all here," Leon pointed out.

Timmy shook his head, "You two go take care of the others, Cyclops and I have a score to settle."

Leon nodded and picked up an unused spear as he went to the outer area of the rocks while Danny asked, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"To be honest," Timmy replied, "I'm not sure, but it feels like I've got someone else watching over me besides just you two."

"Uhh..." Danny hesitated, "okay I guess..." Danny took an unused sword and ran after Leon, "Stay safe Timmy, or I'll kill you myself!"

Timmy smiled as his friend left him alone and he took stance waiting for Cyclops to inevitably show up. At last his rival appeared in front of him on his horse; Cyclops stared angrily at Timmy for a brief second and urged his horse onwards. Timmy ran towards his foe as Cyclops raised his own sword to attack. Before Cyclops would attack, one of Timmy's legs accidentally gave out as he knelt and sliced with his sword. Cyclops' horse collapsed to the ground and flung its rider off, causing Cyclops to groan as he landed on the ground hard, unmoving after a few seconds.

On one of the outer paths of the rocks, a still living member of the League of Merchants was galloping around trying to find anyone else that was still alive. Danny leaped out with a yell and tackled the league member off his horse, stabbing him several times. Another league member trotted over and tried to stab Danny on the ground with his spear. From behind him, Leon stabbed his own spear into the man's back who groaned, Danny quickly grabbed the wounded man off his horse and jabbed at him several times to finish him off.

Danny turned back to Leon and smiled, "Not so good with the spear, huh?"

Leon smarmily replied, "Sorry, I was always better at the shotput when I was in school, not the javelin."

As Danny chuckled there came a shot that hit the wall behind Danny, a section of the wall fell out and knocked Danny on top of the head. Leon quickly rushed over to check on him, thankfully Danny was simply unconscious, but Leon knew he would be no more help in the fight. Leon quickly grabbed Danny and climbed over the wall, taking a hiding spot as several more shots were fired at him. Leon peered over the wall to try and see if he could find where he was being attacked from. Leon reached for both of his guns but found one had been accidentally dropped while he was carrying Danny.

Inside the rocks, Merchant and his last remaining league member were attempting to kill Leon, the league member had fired as he was instructed but he had only been able to hit the wall several times. Merchant gave the signal for his ally to break off from him to try and flank their adversary.

As Leon peered over the wall, he suddenly spotted a man breaking from cover and running across the way. Leon quickly took aim and fired a few times, hitting the speeding league member as he collapsed to the ground. Not hearing any return fire for a few seconds, Leon stood up from the wall and carefully made his way out into the path. A revolver shot echoed out as Leon felt his gun be shot out of his hand.

Across the way, Merchant walked out towards his enemy, confident he had no more weapons. Leon spied his gun on the ground, but knew that if he moved, he would be dead before he even bent over.

Merchant chuckled, "Well, Stranger, never thought I'd see you again. What brings you around these parts?"

"Wesker sent me," Leon admitted, "Said something about 'tying up a loose end.'"

"Didn't take you for the type who'd listen to Wesker, you always seemed like your own man to me," teased Merchant.

Leon shrugged, "I've got to make a living somehow, don't I?"

Merchant chuckled, "Well it's been fun seeing you, Stranger, but it's time we come to the end of our little chat," Merchant raised his revolver.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a new voice interrupted.

Merchant and Leon turned to see Timmy walking towards them. Merchant slowly pointed his gun at Timmy, but Timmy only shook his head at Merchant as he brought his hand closer to his lightsaber, ready to use it if needed. Merchant wisely placed his weapon back into his holster as Timmy walked over to Leon.

Timmy gave Leon a gun from one of the dead outlaws, "Try this," he advised as Leon checked the ammo and cocked the revolver before holstering it as well.

"Now we start," Timmy stated as he walked to the sidelines right down the middle. Instead of being a one-sided affair, it would now be a proper showdown between Merchant and Leon, with no interference.

Leon and Merchant stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, each glancing down at the hand of their opponent every so often. Every time one of them would even inch closer to their own gun, the other would move simultaneously and then they both would lower their hands. As the two stared, Merchant started to feel sweat drip down his face while Leon stayed calm and cool. After what seemed like an eternity, Merchant quickly reached for his gun and pulled it out, but Leon was a few milliseconds faster on the draw and immediately fired a single shot. Merchant violently collapsed to the ground, stirring after a few seconds as he heavily panted and attempted to aim his weapon at Leon. Leon just steadied his hand in case he had to fire again. Merchant's hand shook as he groaned softly and suddenly his grip loosened and all was silent. Colonel Merchant lay dead from a single shot into his heart.

"Bravo," congratulated Timmy, "How is Danny?"

Leon replied as he dropped the gun, "He's alright, just got conked on the head. I put him behind the wall over here, let me check on him."

Timmy nodded, "I can still sense a couple more still alive in the maze, I'll go take care of them and be back."

"No problem," Leon admitted, "anyone that's left has to be very heavily injured and on death's door already."

Timmy said nothing more and walked back into the maze of rocks, heading towards the middle area as he tried to sense where the living were specifically. Suddenly Timmy felt a presence beside him as he quickly put up his katana to parry an attack by a very angry Cyclops. In a state of pure rage, Cyclops swung his sword like an animal but caught the unsuspecting Timmy off guard as he was barely able to parry Cyclops' assault. Timmy ducked just before another one of Cyclops' slashes could spell his doom, Cyclops' sword smashing into a rock. Timmy was on the ground once again as Cyclops brought his sword down, but Timmy's sword parried yet another attack against it. Cyclops kicked Timmy's hand as his sword went out of his hands and out of reach. Cyclops vaulted over Timmy and raised his sword to kill his unarmed rival. With a sickening smile Cyclops brought down his sword, but the blade was met with a clang as Timmy's katana was wielded by a new figure.

The mysterious cartoon male was dressed in a white kimono with a sash around his waist, wooden sandals, and his hair tied back in a Japanese style topknot. The man and the sword almost seemed like they were made for each other, intertwined by fate. The man scowled at Cyclops and used his sword to shove Cyclops' sword back. Cyclops was in pure shock; he had known for a fact this man had been killed years ago and yet here he was. As Cyclops stared, the man slashed the sword once, cutting into the left cheek of Cyclops, right under his one good eye. Cyclops covered his face with his free hand and backed away slightly with a groan.

Timmy saw the whole thing unfold as the man turned around and looked at Timmy. The man smiled and reached a hand down. Timmy again felt the presence he had felt before, warm and inviting but also strong and imposing. Timmy grabbed the man's hand as he was pulled up and suddenly found himself alone but holding onto the katana. Timmy took a deep breath and relaxed, calming his mind and allowing his movements to become one with the magic blade.

Cyclops seethed at feeling the deep cut on his cheek as he looked back only to see Timmy standing there holding the sword. Cyclops bared his teeth as he felt a pure, unbridled rage build up inside of him. It was the exact opposite of the fight they had had earlier in the day; Timmy had been the one fuming with rage while Cyclops was the calm and collected one. As both rivals slowly approached each other, Cyclops lunged forward with an attack which was easily parried by Timmy. Six times their blades met as Cyclops attempted all the offense only to be blocked by Timmy's sword every time. After the sixth strike, Cyclops swiped to try and cut Timmy in two. Timmy ducked under the swing and countered with his own slash, cutting open the stomach of Cyclops, who backed up into a rock in pain. With a downward chop, Timmy sliced through most of Cyclops' sword, breaking the blade and leaving his enemy in a pained expression of shock. Cyclops attempted one last attack with his broken sword, but Timmy easily shoved it aside and brought his sword down, cutting into Cyclops' left shoulder. Cyclops screamed in pain as he tried to slowly back up. Timmy slashed his katana again, this time cutting open Cyclops' upper chest. Cyclops held up his arms as they shook, seemingly pleading for his life even with his broken sword in hand. Timmy simply swiped one last time diagonally down from Cyclops' shoulder. Cyclops' mouth hung open as he said no words, his arms violently shaking as he tumbled over, his body loudly thumping to the ground. Colonel Cyclops moved no more, blood pooling underneath him from his many wounds. Timmy exhaled as he cleaned off the sword, sheathed it, and bowed towards the rocks as a sign of respect for the warrior who had saved him.

Timmy could sense no more living forces in the rocks for now, so he made his way back to where Leon and Danny were. After a short time, Danny woke up. Danny was alright even though he had a massive splitting headache. Leon, Danny, and Timmy gathered up the dead bodies from the rocks and piled them up into the cart of bodies, putting the League of Merchants on the bottom, Merchant and Cyclops in the middle, and the Six-Gum Gang on top. As they were finishing up with that, Timmy went to the center of the Remembrance Rocks and laid down the katana and its scabbard in front of a rock.

"Thank you," smiled Timmy as he looked up at the rock, once again thanking the warrior and his sword that had saved him in more ways than one. Timmy had realized the sword no longer served any major purpose for him and was more than happy to leave it behind in remembrance of its former owner. As Timmy walked away to rejoin the others, the same warrior from earlier appeared and grabbed the sword, smiling back at the departing Timmy. The samurai slowly walked away from the scene as he vanished into thin air along with his sword, ready to pass on to the afterlife.

Leon was already on a horse, having taken a few souvenir weapons from the Six-Gum Gang and Merchant, "Well, kid, I think this is goodbye. It's been fun, but I've gotta get back."

"Well if you're ever around Miracle City you'll always be welcome," grinned Timmy.

Leon nodded, "Likewise if one of you is in the Video Game Kingdom and ever caught in a jam, just ask for Leon or STARS, I'll be sure to help you guys out."

"Take it easy," Danny thanked, shaking Leon's hand, "You're one hell of a fighter."

"So are you," admitted Leon, "I'd definitely count on either of you to watch my back."

Danny turned to Timmy next, "Well until we meet again, Timmy."

"Next time we have to invite Sam, Tucker, or Jazz in on the fun," Timmy joked.

"Sounds like a plan," Danny smiled as he bumped fists with Timmy, "Don't be a stranger, man."

Timmy waved, "See you guys!"

Leon and Danny started to slowly leave, their horses carefully vacating the area. Meanwhile Timmy focused his attention to the body cart, counting the bounty of the Six-Gum Gang, the real reason he had come out this way in the first place.

"Let's see," Timmy thought out loud after counting the first few bounties, "10,000, 30, 70, 100, and 155."

As Timmy continued to count, a figure started to slowly walk out of the rocks. Runt softly panted as he slowly stood up. Runt had only been hit by a small amount of shrapnel and crawled away to safety before Timmy and Cyclops had their duel. Runt had waited until he felt it was safe to come out and exact his revenge. Runt slowly raised up his gun.

"375, 400, and 450,000?" Timmy questioned as he realized it did not add up to the full amount, "450?"

From behind him, Timmy heard a click of a gun. Timmy sped around and fired a shot from a weapon he had taken from a dead outlaw. Runt uttered a short scream as he dropped to the ground, dead on arrival.

"750,000" Timmy grinned as he realized he found his missing bounty.

Both Danny and Leon turned around as Leon asked, "Any trouble, kid?"

Timmy shook his head, "No, I thought I was having trouble with my math is all, it's all right now though."

Danny and Leon chuckled as they turned away and went off on their own separate ways. Timmy threw the gun away as he walked over, picked up Runt's body off the ground, and tossed it on top of the other bodies. Timmy donned the pink sombrero, sat at the front of the cart, and urged the horses to head off.

Back at the Loyalist outpost in Nowhere, the bored Loyalist was still trying to pass the time with whatever he could think of. Outside there came a small commotion as several of the townsfolk passed by the window. His curiosity piqued; the Loyalist went outside when he spied the sombrero wearing stranger from before with a cart full of bodies behind him. Quickly the Loyalist rushed over to see that the figure had indeed wiped out the entirety of the Six-Gum Gang.

"Here it is," the Loyalist proudly spoke as he handed over the bounty to the stranger, "750,000 credits for a job well done."

The stranger replied, "Thank you kindly. There is some other trash in there as well, but those were for free."

"Hey, you've done a great service out here," the Loyalist admitted, "I'm sure it's a much safer place out in the Desert Zone with whatever scum you took care of."

The stranger tipped his sombrero, "Adios," he thanked as he sped off on his horse with his credits.

The Loyalist was still grinning ear to ear as his buddies started to unload the bodies off the cart, each one more proof of the complete destruction of the outlaw gang. The soldier's expression suddenly turned to one of sheer terror when one of the outlaw's bodies was lifted to reveal the stone-dead face of Colonel Merchant underneath. The Loyalist turned to locate the stranger, but he had already sped off into the sunset, victorious in more ways than one.

End of Episode 14

Closing Note: While I WOULD include a bio for Samurai Jack in the Bios, I feel that it would be a disservice as he's only very briefly featured (as a spirit) and I have plans to explore just what had happened with him during the Loyalist coup. To sum up for now, Jack and the Ten Titans DID meet, making him one of the few toons who is aware of the full capacity of the group, and eventually Jack was killed in Snah and Corpla's underground maze (which Kevin bore witness to).

Character Bios:

Colonel Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom: Leader of the Western Front of the rebellion. Once the fabled "Ghost Boy of Amity Park," Danny only sparingly uses his ghost powers as he fears he would create a major target on his back if he ever exposed his alter ego. Danny was forced out of his old home after the Two-Day War and the loss of his ghost hunter parents. Danny, his friends, and older sister eventually joined the rebellion and quickly rose up the ranks to become a top officer. Danny and Timmy had met several times over the years and consider each other great friends.

Agent Leon Scott Kennedy: A former Raccoon City police officer turned government agent. Leon works (reluctantly) under President Albert Wesker from the Video Game Kingdom. Leon is sometimes sent on undercover operations to other nations of the Fiction World. Leon was sent to take out the last living proof that Wesker ever had anything to do with helping the Loyalist uprising, Merchant. While Leon is usually a friendly guy, his tough attitude and objective-focused nature sometimes rub others the wrong way.

Corpla (Deceased): Shuriken thrower trained by Calamitous, Turpa, and Compa (though mostly the latter two) and member of the Ten Titans. His identical twin is Snah. They never miss their intended targets. They were the ones who killed Timmy's friends inside the Capital and had their own underground maze created for them in order to torment and hunt anyone unfortunate enough to be sentenced down there. While they are skilled, they suffer from severe pigheadedness and refuse to accept there are others stronger than them. While attempting to kill Timmy Turner, Corpla was killed when the top of his head was chopped off by Timmy reflecting one of his own shuriken back at him. His ring was sent to The Master after his demise.

Snah (Deceased): Shuriken thrower trained by Calamitous, Turpa, and Compa (though mostly the latter two) and member of the Ten Titans. His identical twin is Corpla. They never miss their intended targets. They were the ones who killed Timmy's friends inside the Capital and had their own underground maze created for them in order to torment and hunt anyone unfortunate enough to be sentenced down there. While they are skilled, they suffer from severe pigheadedness and refuse to accept there are others stronger than them. As he attempted to take revenge for the death of his brother, Timmy killed Snah with one of his own shuriken to the chest. His ring was sent to The Master after his demise.

The League of Merchants (All Deceased): Originated in the Video Game Kingdom, the original league was a group of video game merchants that obtained and manufactured weapons for the black-market. After finding out some of the weapons were going to a group attempting to remove him from power, Albert Wesker ordered the disbandment of the group. With a tentative blessing, Merchant simply moved over to Cartoon Land and started up a new division of the group. The league provides special weaponry to the Loyalist cause on top of black-market weapons deals. Thanks to their agreement with the Loyalists, the group can function with almost no scrutiny or threat of persecution. The group was wiped out by Danny and Leon as they attempted to rescue Timmy, their hideout and massive cache of weapons and ammunition was destroyed. Any member that remained was slaughtered at the Remembrance Rocks.

The Six-Gum Gang (All Deceased): Originally an outlaw group of five kids who were a terror to anyone who dared to cross into their self-proclaimed territory of the Desert Zone, after his friends were killed, the leader, Runt, allied himself with whatever cutthroat criminals and brigands would venture his way. At its peak, the group was twenty-five strong and carried a considerable Loyalist bounty. As part of a small plan by The Master, the group was to be used in a similar capacity as the League of Merchants, harassing any rebel or civilian group that passed through the Desert Zone but allow free passage for any Loyalist patrol. The group was killed to a man at the Remembrance Rocks. Timmy collected the bounty to help the rebels fund their siege against Dimmsdale.

Colonel Merchant (Deceased): A villager of a small Spanish town that came under the Las Plagas incident, he lived in the Video Game Kingdom until he joined up with Commander Alex and the Loyalist cause after being "permitted" to leave by President Wesker. Merchant was a great weapons dealer in the Two-Day War thanks to his black-market connections and the League of Merchants. Merchant was one of Grievous' most trusted men. When not in the Capital, Merchant preferred the relative solitude out in the Desert Zone, particularly in the area near Nowhere. After the death of Baraka, Wesker sent agent Leon Kennedy to "tie up a loose end" for him. Merchant was killed with a single shot by Leon, but not before his entire League of Merchants group was annihilated.

Colonel Cyclops (Formerly Cy Clops) (Deceased): Member of the Ten Titans and the handpicked right-hand man of The Master. While he does not possess any Force powers like his Sith Acolytes, The Master sees much potential in Cyclops and believes he will be able to do extraordinary things. Initially he did not want a position of power and opted instead to only serve as bodyguard for one of Grievous' henchmen. Originally jokingly called a cyclops by his colleagues, he became one in the Battle of La Piscina Grande thanks to Clam. He was the only escapee of the battle and ended up being promoted to Colonel to replace Jonny 2x4 and to give The Master more solid control over Grievous and his remaining underlings. Cyclops gained Inuyasha's sword for a time and even was taught how to harness a great power by wielding it. Eventually he was given his own sword by The Master. He viewed Timmy Turner as his fierce rival and was eventually cut down by him during the Battle at the Remembrance Rocks.

Runt (Deceased): The leader of the Six-Gum Gang. Always chewing gum and blowing bubbles, Runt kills anyone who passes by his area for no other reason than his amusement. After his original friends in the gang were killed, he gathered any other criminal in the area he could find to help bolster the gang's numbers. Runt had the highest bounty in the gang as the leader, 300,000 credits for his death alone. Runt was shot to death by Timmy at the Remembrance Rocks.