Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 45 – The Takharim
A/N: I'm happy to say that the pace is still up, and yes, the website is perfect to refer to Mario Kart Wii and DS tracks, including their retro ones.
February 12, 2015 – 10:00PM
Eastern Mushroom City
It had gotten late enough to the point where the Toad management crew would just come back in the morning to disassemble the tent. Everything else was closed and the streets went back to normal. Barricades were lifted and the Moonview road was shut. Daisy still sat with Peach, not alone this time. Luigi had stayed with her and watched the sleeping Peach together. Most other racers were gone, only a few still remained outside the tent, talking with eachother.
"Peach... I think it's time we head back to the castle." Daisy noticed a small movement by Peach's eyelids, assuming she was about to wake up.
"Why did we get punished for driving so well?" Peach groaned on her spot on the sofa, feeling lazy and unwilling to get up still. "We were in first for most of that race."
"Well..." Daisy tried to give an explanation. "When everyone out there is almost as good as we are, the luck aspect in these races becomes a lot more of a factor in determining who wins or not. We'll have our good luck next race. You don't need to worry. I'm a little annoyed too you know."
"It was the car patterns that screwed us up I think." Luigi thought. "I'm not much of a fan of that track."
"The next race is going to be a boring one too..." Peach groaned again. "I can tell."
"Well we're going to get to the better ones soon enough." Daisy assured. "You get to pick four more races after that one anyway."
"You're right I guess." Peach eventually got herself to sit up straight on the sofa, looking down and defeated still. Both Daisy and Luigi were surprised that this particular race managed to get to her. It was just one of thirty-two after all. "Luigi, are you able to give me and Daisy a lift home?" She turned her head and asked him.
Luigi nodded back almost immediately. "Sure, I can do that for you girls."
"Thanks... any idea where your brother might be?" She asked him again.
"He went home on his own." Luigi replied rather anxiously. "He was very enthusiastic and happy about the race, considering we did really well, but afterwards he just said bye and that he'd be back in our house by midnight."
"Crazy." Peach added monotonously after hearing what he said. "I wonder what he's up to nowadays."
"I don't really know much about what he does now either." Said Luigi. "Let's get back to the castle anyway. You're shattered, and in need for some sleep tonight. You have been up since five after all."
February 13, 2015 – 11:00AM
Aypyidaw, Southwest Résethal
The sounds of grumpy, growling Koopas filled the chamber halls of one of the prison floors at the end of the headquarters building as two Red Martyr soldiers brought in another prisoner. The soldiers were armed and stood directly in the middle of the hallway in order to avoid the reaching arms of closest hostile Koopas to the cell doors. They walked all the way down to the end of the room and turned to their left, ready to open the cell that currently housed Menskem, Dirrug, and a hostile that appeared to be deceased, and rotting away, kicked aside towards the corner of it.
"New roommate!" Menskem shouted across, trying to get the attention of the prisoners in the opposite cell. The two guards noticed the rotting body and dragged it out of the cell, removing the cuffs that were still attached to its arms in the process. Afterwards, the Red Martyr soldiers attached the cuffs of the new prisoner to the chains on the right side of the cell wall, keeping him there and closing the cell doors afterwards, locking them up together. Before they left, the Red Martyrs started removing the chains towards the Koopa on the left side of the cell wall. Dirrug looked confused when they started doing this, but followed them out of the cell, exiting the chambers and surprising all the others at the same time.
"Oh you're gonna love it here now. That kid who just left? He's so annoying." Menskem joked to the new prisoner as he stood around the area awkwardly.
"Who's the new roommate?" Koopreme managed to look up through the bars of his cell to try and catch a glimpse of the hostile Koopa that just moved in to the cell opposite.
"It's not one of ours is it?" The new prisoner overheard a different voice from the cell opposite and didn't say much, until he realised that he recognised the voices of the prisoners in the opposite cell.
"Stand up and show us your face, new guy." Koopreme held himself up high enough to look through both cell bars.
"Your voice is awfully familiar." The new prisoner called out across the loud room, filled with the voices of all of the other prisoners further down the chamber.
"Hey I recognise you!" Koopreme said across the room. "You're one of those Vilrus dummies!"
"Yeah? And where are you from?" The new prisoner started kicking his cell door, even though it made no movement whatsoever.
"Only from the very best." Koopreme grinned, trying to make himself seen through the cell bars.
"Of course a Zurlon fucker would say that. You idiots killed my best friend!" The hostile from Vilrus scratched his cuffs on the cell bars, trying to relieve his anger.
"Let me see who this guy is." Nikola said from the back of the cell, standing up and trying to peer through the cell bars and making Koopreme and Malcolm move their heads out of the way.
"I know that voice. You're Verida's brother. The most annoying bitch in the entire north's brother! Fuck you!" The new prisoner from Vilrus was Marley, one of Ata's best. He was arrested and put in prison after a Red Martyr skirmish for attempted murder on one of their own. Instead of being killed at the sight of the skirmish, the soldiers gracefully let him live at the expense of his freedom.
"Wait a minute." Menskem got up from the back of their cell. "You mans are from rival tribes?"
"Is that big man Menskem trying to interfere with our gentlemanly conversation?" Malcolm called across the cells after hearing his voice.
"From the same one actually... but those idiots over there want to take charge." Marley turned around to respond back to Menskem, ignoring the Zurlon Koopas from the other cell.
"You're all Takharim? Oh word, I'm a Tammans, from Pelesc." Marley didn't seem to buy Menskem's words. Judging from how he looked, he only had the language culture of a hostile from the north.
"Aren't you that Koopa who tried to blow himself up at Koopa Cape?" He began to laugh a bit.
"I tried to kill Princess Peach, and her friends!"
"But you look exactly like a Troopa." Marley said back to him. "You're what... Troopa's... second cousin or something? You're Menskem, how are you still here?"
"Aww what a trio." Koopreme joked from the other cell. "The weakling, the retard, and now the opp. What an amazing combination!"
"Shut up Zurlon shitter. If you guys were so great how comes you're all here?"
"Pipe down." Malcolm backed up Koopreme. "Illias will get us all out. He's just got to deal with you shits first."
"Illias is weak! He's too soft because of that human boy that frequently visits. We all know that nobody's got his approval to be leader of the Takharim. He's basically out of the competition! All Ata needs to do is get rid of that Mywithe loser from the main city and everyone will be following us. Fake hostiles can get the fuck out of our towns for once!" Even though Menskem had no idea what Marley was saying as they lived in different parts of the north, he was deeply interested, standing behind Marley to hear what he would say next. Additionally, Dirrug started to get up from his spot on the left side of the cell after hearing him mention the name Illias.
"It's not all about Illias. Zurlon doesn't need a one-Koopa representative. He's got Johan and Verida by his side to help him out, and all of the other loyal Zurloners."
"Yeah sure, go and believe that." Marley laughed at them, knowing more about the outside scenario than they did. "You guys keep getting your hopes up when Illias comes to free you."
MEANWHILE...
Vilrus, Northeast Résethal
The same people just mentioned from the towns further to the east had arranged to meet up in neutral ground. Leader to leader. In a place that had turned completely upside down during small sieges that took place in the past week, Illias had tried to get a message over to Ata, over his current concerns for his friends that had been arrested by the Red Martyrs and put in prison. Usually anybody that had been arrested for hostile activity would usually have been cleared of their actions and sent back to their hometown after giving them as much information as they could. However, it had been several weeks since the Zurlon Koopas and Menskem had been arrested, and Illias hasn't heard back from them since.
Illias walked alone through the outskirts of the ruined city of Vilrus, taking damage from not only the followers of Illias, but from other surrounding towns that were supporters of Mywithe from Takhar. As he, Mywithe, and Ata were the three current contenders to take on as the leader of the so-called tribe, debates whether the tribe still existed were in the talks. Illias approached the southern road leading out of Vilrus, unarmed, and waiting to find somebody to negotiate with. He was hoping to speak to Ata himself, on a matter not yet disclosed to anybody.
"Wait... an outsider!" Illias heard an armed Koopa approach him. She too was alone, but already having her weapon pointed towards him. It seemed that Illias hadn't got any weapons of his own from the Koopa's view, so she quickly lowered the gun. "Hold on... you're Illias Fonavan?" After realising, she raised her weapon back at him. "State your business. Are you here to foil with us?"
"No." Illias quickly replied. "I'm here to talk. Where is Ata?"
"Why should I tell you, and why are you alone?" The armed Koopa asked back, still raising her weapon into his face.
"Why are you alone?" He stood more forward to her. "If I was armed you'd be on the ground right now, but you're not." She froze for a short moment and started to lower her weapon.
"Good point." She said. "Tyro always said that Ata would pull up if a ghetto Koopa shows up on our streets. Come with me then." She grabbed Illias by the arm and started pulling him on to the road and taking him to the house on the road that Ata and his friends resided in. As they pulled up to the front door, the Koopa knocked on it and awaited entry. After a few seconds, the door opened slightly, allowing her to bring Illias in with her, closing the door immediately afterwards.
"Heard anything back from Marley?" Another Koopa inside the house called down from atop the stairs.
"No we haven't Koopo, but I managed to find somebody else. Get Ata."
"Shit, Zuba." Koopo gasped, coming down the stairs to see an unarmed Illias being held by Zuba, the female hostile Koopa that spotted him. "How did you get this fucker? This is like your biggest score."
"I'll tell you in a minute yeah, get Illias for me." Zuba grinned, trying to keep up her pride in the presence of one of her greatest enemies in recent days.
"Come through." Koopo beckoned. "He's in the back playing cards with the others."
"Good idea, we'll bring him over." Zuba grabbed Illias again and took him through the ran-down house all the way to the back room where he could see many other Koopas sitting around a round table with cards and small coins on all parts of it. Ata, sitting at the very back of the room, noticed Illias first. The look he gave ahead of everyone made them all notice and stand up immediately in response. All of them were surprised to see Illias being presented to them.
"Is that...?" Mac, still relatively new to being up north, spoke out of turn. "Illias?"
"Yes it is. Be quiet." Koopiz silenced him, waiting for Ata to speak first.
"Something is not right..." Ata said softly. "You manage to bring this cunt in to my house, how?"
"He came unarmed." Zuba responded. "He said he wanted to talk."
"So he's surrendering. Illias, surrendering? I don't even like the cunt but still, this is not like him." He looked straight in to Illias' eyes. "Why are you really here? What could you possibly want to talk about, because if it's to apologise on behalf of your reckless girlfriend, it's too late to pay respects to the late mister Makaar."
"Mister Makaar?" Illias looked a little bit confused. "And what do you mean girlfriend?"
"One of your own killed our boy Kriega. A girl did it. Marley told us and saw it with his own eyes. He was going to try and get his revenge on you lot but the southerners got him first." Ata explained the case of revenge to Illias, maintaining relatively good terms for people who were sworn enemies with eachother.
"So the southerners got one of yours, you know how many they've got of mine? Four. Four times as many as yours."
"What is your point here?" Ata stood up, shocking Mac on his near right and Ratharmas on his near left, both very new to the northern lifestyle.
"You ever wondered what the point of all of these disagreements we've had are for?" Illias tried to start a persuasive argument in front of everyone he formerly hated, but after learning a few things about the Red Martyrs having spent more time alone, he began to realise that perhaps trying to just prove to others that he's the best wasn't the best thing to do. They had killed eachother enough already, and saw nothing to be gained out of any of it.
"Yeah. Your sorry ass wanting to be better than us... you wanted to control who gets all the food, who gets all the money and the jobs, making us lot suffer, but we've got guns too you know." Koopiz responded back, putting Illias in a worse state. It was not the response he was expecting them to say.
"I know." He said quickly, admitting to some of the blame for all of the lives lost, for it wasn't just Kriega and the others arrested, but several others part of the tribe that weren't as close to Illias or Ata. Only the important ones are usually what matters. "Since the southerners started taking our own, I began to realise something. This isn't about who gets on top. We're supposed to be a tribe, all part of the same group we used to be."
"But we were all poor back then. Only some of us could be rich." Koopiz argued again.
"And we'd make our own town wealthy and leave the rest to shambles. You mans don't get it." Illias replied again, causing a short period of silence until someone else at the back started talking again.
"If I may have a moment, friends." Mac raised his hand and grabbed the attention of everyone else standing around the table as well as Illias. "I've not been here for long, but a lot of people know about you Illias, even southerners. You must be very well-known up here as well."
"And?" Illias interrupted.
"What I'm saying is... you could like... use that to get people to join you."
"No, hear me out." He shut Mac up and turned his head back to Ata, as it was clear he needed to speak to the highest person of power. "We can all be happy if we have a reason to. You need Marley back as much as I need my friends back. I've lost Dirrug, I've lost Nikola, Koopreme and Malcolm. They are my day ones. We need to get them back; all of them. The only way we can do that is together..."
"What kind of batty shit is this yute chatting?" Koopiz spoke out repulsively. "Are you mad?"
"Shut up Koopiz, he's got a point." Ata put his arm in front of Koopiz as he rose with aggression.
"Kriega didn't die for you pussies to break bread with eachother!"
"And we'd keep dying to one another if we don't do anything about it." Ata faced Koopiz for the first time. He would usually be looking down or back at Illias. It was rare that Ata would stare directly in to one of his friends' eyes when addressing them. Koopiz felt a little timid, knowing that Ata was looking back at him.
"Zuba, Tyro, what do you think about this stance then?" He asked, also noticing that Ratharmas was looking at him too. "I don't give a fuck about these young ones." Koopiz immediately disregarded Ratharmas, showing that he didn't get on well with him in front of Illias.
"Koopiz, relax." Ata tried to calm him down.
"It sounds so dumb. Who else on your end knows about this?" Zuba turned her head towards Illias.
"Nobody yet... One would vouch for me; I'm not sure about the other." He said softly, trying to think of anybody in Zurlon that would still help him.
"Wait... Zurlon has only two other big hostiles? You telling me man's collapsed?" Koopiz started to laugh out of spite to Illias, knowing now that he may have come over to Vilrus only to seek help without offering much in return. He moved from his seat and slowly approached Illias, still being kept in position by Zuba. "Imagine how Mywithe would react to hearing about this." He spat on the floor in front of Illias before heading out of the room from the corridor behind him. Illias was grateful that he wasn't spat in the face at least. Zuba watched him leave and head upstairs near the entrance of the house, being able to see all the way to the end from the back room.
"Is he always like that?" Ratharmas asked the others before Ata was about to resume the conversation.
"Ask me this Illias." Ignoring Ratharmas, Ata got Illias' attention back. "How many towns up here are backing you?" It took a while for him to think of any, but Ata kept talking afterwards. "Let's assume the best and say you've got... Atam and maybe Selengrí. We've got Vilrus, Tigell, Amarian, Conkav, and Mispata. That means Mywithe has support from Takhar, Fan Fagaan, and Houeida, with Unhalvalor currently supporting nobody as far as I am aware." He paused for a brief moment, staring straight in to Illias' eyes. "Even with Mywithe's support we wouldn't be able to storm Aypyidaw and rescue our brothers and sisters. Have you seen how high those walls are? Those guys' purpose is to keep us out and I'm pretty sure they're doing a good job at it. We've never been able to bring everyone together so we attack eachother instead. That's why we are as tribes, worse yet we can't even unite our own tribe together." Illias began to feel frustrated, slowly losing the battle. "I will tell you this though, as unfortunately we are not going to unite and rescue our brothers and sisters as it seems. I will personally let go of our differences, and you and your two or so hostile allies will no longer be an enemy to us. I don't give a single fuck about your lower ranks. But if I see you with that blonde human one more time... I'm killing both of you." He slowly backed from leaning over the table and sat back down on his chair. "Now get out of my house, or I will kill you now." He nodded to Zuba to send Illias outside. She would then force him off the town area, sending him back in to the woods in the direction towards Zurlon.
"He doesn't seem like a threat to us no more." Tyro stated. "He said he's got like two other big hostile names and that's it. No more Nikola and the others, they're locked up in the pound just like Marley. I do wish he was still here though."
"And I wish Kriega was here too but there's nothing to gain out of sobbing." Zuba responded back to Tyro after coming back in to the room. "Those two were best friends, now they're both in the shitter."
"What are we going to do then?" Mac asked Zuba and Tyro, who were the only ones that were still standing up. "I take it we're not finishing our game of cards then." They said nothing, but Mac could tell they were both in deep thought. Eventually, the anger from the idea of doing nothing about what has happened got to her. She growled and toppled the table in front of her with rage, taking it all out on that. After looking at what she did for a few seconds, she walked off out of the room with frustration. Mac and Ratharmas looked at the toppled table with unease, Ata sighed, and Tyro was upset. After a few more seconds he too left the room, leaving Ata alone with the two newcomers to Vilrus.
The three sat in silence for at least a minute, all of them staring down at the toppled table and wondering what to do. Eventually, Ata got off of his chair and picked up his crossbow that was resting behind his chair.
"You guys are with me now." He said to the two clueless Koopas still sitting on the chairs next to him. "Let's go outside." Ata turned towards the back door of the house, leading to the garden. As much as a garden it is, there was no fencing that marked it. Anybody could easily walk across the other houses along and their corresponding backyards.
"Where are we going?" Mac asked, holding his newly acquired pistol.
"We too are going to talk, just with different people." Ata led Mac and Ratharmas in to the woods, heading southeast...
4:00PM
Unhalvalor, Northeast Résethal
Since the main entrance to the town had been locked for days, Ata let the other two Koopas through the surrounding woods, coming in from the north. As they arrived, they noticed that the town wasn't very populated with hostile Koopas. Most of the people here were either normal northerner citizens or what is known as 'singular hostiles'. This type was usually armed but only for their own defence. They had no ties with proper gangs of hostiles or the larger scale of tribes. Ata had some names in mind to see on their visit here. The Koopas he wanted to see were the so-called representatives of Unhalvalor within the Takharim tribe, these were hostiles who claimed to run the town, but were yet to decide who to stand by when it comes to who leads the tribe as a whole. Ata was stared at by the people on the streets, noticing his crossbow and therefore recognising that it was him. They all whispered to eachother under their breaths and kept out of his way as he searched for the hostile representatives with Mac and Ratharmas. There were three important people for Ata to speak to, one had the nickname 'Basher Koopex', another was called Durkar, and the third was Bursk.
Heading around a corner, the three noticed Bursk on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. He had his hands in his pockets and didn't initially notice the three at first, but as they were heading across the road, the noticeable crossbow got his attention, and he turned his head towards the three.
"Get him." Ata whispered to the others as Bursk reacted, startled, and ran off down the opposite road. "Get him!" Ata called out again, putting his crossbow tucked in his shell. Ata and Ratharmas started sprinting across the road with Mac taking a bit more time to react and put his gun back in to his pockets. The three started chasing Bursk down the next road until Bursk took a turning on the right, heading downhill. The three turned and noticed him heading down a road that led all the way to the cove in the town, connecting to a river that went all the way out to the eastern sea. As Mac and Ratharmas chased him down, Ata got out his crossbow and aimed it towards Bursk, releasing a bolt that would brush just past his head, hitting the wall of the building in front of him and causing him to panic and cower.
"Aaaah!" Bursk screamed, slipping on the pavement and stopping completely. Mac and Ratharmas stood beside him and held both of his arms, turning him around to meet with Ata. All of the Unhalvalorians who were watching them on other parts of the road headed in to their homes, hiding from their sight.
"We got him." Ratharmas informed Ata.
"I've never seen either of you two in my life. Who are these people Ata, and what do you want with me?" Bursk started shaking as he spoke to Ata, trying to free himself from the grip of the others.
"Where are Basher and Durkar?" Ata pointed the crossbow at Bursk. "I've got to have a bit of a talk with all three of you."
"They're out of town."
"Then where are they? You have to get straight to the point here." He threatened.
"They're in... Takhar, today. Why are you here?"
"Guess who showed up to Vilrus today... Illias himself. He's given up. All of his supporters support me now, but I haven't come here for your support."
"Then why have you come here? Besides, we have no respect for Illias anyway." Bursk begged to be freed from the grip of Mac and Ratharmas, but Ata refused. Instead, Ata headed in to the nearest alley, taking the others with Bursk in there with him to stay out of sight of the common people of the town.
"...Because we needed to talk on matters that are far bigger than who wants to take charge. I'm clearly the winner here anyway. Mywithe hasn't got the numbers to stop me now."
"Unhalvalor is meant to be a neutral place in this land. We shouldn't be involved in petty fights like these. My brothers and sisters aren't willing to die for your selfish acts."
"Then why are Basher and Durkar in Takhar, Mywithe's own home. How does a representative of a neutral town cross paths with the biggest traitor since Koopak the first?"
"Mywithe said we'd not be involved." Ata didn't believe Bursk at all.
"Mywithe betrayed the Red Martyrs. Mywithe betrayed Bowser on Wuhu Island. What makes you think he wouldn't betray a bunch of Koopas?" Bursk gasped. "You're being blackmailed." Ata nodded to the others, still holding Bursk's arms, ordering them to release him. Bursk slipped once again, almost falling to the floor. His arms were hurt and his shoulders were aching, he stood up to look at Ata once more to see him finally lowering his crossbow aim at him.
"I've got to call them up." He said. "They need to know." He got out his phone and started to search for Basher's contact details. "What about Illias though? I don't know if Basher and Durkar will be happy to work alongside him in the future."
"Fuck Illias for now, he's not really an ally of ours. He's just out of the picture." The three watched Bursk eventually start to call up Basher. He told them that he would pick up if it came from him as they all look out for eachother, but this time there was no answer.
"He's not answering."
"Right." Ata turned around. "I want you to get any armed Koopa you know in this town... We're going to end this once and for all at sunset. If you don't show up then I'll come back here in the morning and kill your family." He started heading out of the alley, but before turning around the corner he looked around at Bursk with Mac and Ratharmas. "East Takhar, by sunset. Understood?"
"Yes, Ata." Bursk panicked slightly, kneeling on the floor in the alley alone. Mac and Ratharmas caught up with Ata and started heading out of town like nobody was there to intervene with them...
6:00PM
Vilrus, Northeast Résethal
Knock! Knock!
Zuba opened the door for them, still looking slightly depressed from earlier.
"Interesting to see that you didn't come back through the back door." She pointed out, holding the door open for the three to get in. "Have you got anything interesting to say to me?"
"Yes, we do." Ata replied, walking past her and staring up at the top stairs. "If you're hungry, eat now. We're going to Takhar for sunset." Zuba's eyes widened with surprise followed by worry and doubt.
"What?" She reacted. "I thought you said you don't want more fights?"
"This is the fight to end all fights around here." Ata started walking up the steps of the house as Mac and Ratharmas headed in to the kitchen together to prepare something for them to eat before going. "Basher and Durkar from Unhalvalor have been blackmailed there. I'm going to put a bolt straight through Mywithe's heart, and you're all coming with me." She watched him head up the stairs to look for Koopo and Koopiz. Tyro was already downstairs overhearing the conversation. "Get anyone else in town, we need as many as we can get." He could sense that he headed through the corridors to Koopo and Koopiz's room, closing the room door behind him. Zuba then headed outside and roamed the streets, searching for others to join them.
"Boss." Koopo addressed Ata, getting off of his mattress in the tattered room and standing up. "I overheard, we actually going to Takhar tonight?"
"You remember what I always say?" Ata put his hands on Koopo's shoulders. "I run these ends, and you mans ride with me. You're my bros and my sisters... Koopiz?" He turned his head to see Koopo's brother with his head under his duvet.
"You guys out of your fucking mind?" Koopiz mumbled from under the covers.
"Go and have your dinner boys. I'm calling up the Amarian ends now. We deal with Mywithe then the Fans and the Houeida turn over to us. We plan to arrive at sunset. The Unhalvalorians are on our side as well now. Some of them are captured there."
"So we fight for other ends now?" Koopiz complained again.
"...And now they fight for us!" Ata raised his voice and threw the duvet off of Koopiz's mattress. "I'm trying to unite these people so we can stop fighting eachother. This is the last leg of the race for unity." Koopiz frowned back at Ata, but eventually got up from his mattress, looked Ata right in the eyes and headed out of his room, going downstairs to find something to eat.
TWO HOURS LATER...
Besides roads, the only thing that separated the small towns in northeast Résethal from one another was the huge, dense forest. In between every town there would be hundreds or thousands of trees, all with thick leaves and branches. People in the north would only use their memory and familiar paths in the woods to remember which town led to what when they were heading from one place to another. Most of the Koopas that Zuba had gathered from the town of Vilrus ventured southwest on foot, crossing a few empty roads in the process and going along some unused railway tracks as well. Zuba would go on to lead her group of hostile Koopas along with Tyro. As for the others, they were heard of and seen on the roads... in trucks.
Ata trusted Ratharmas to drive him and Mac down the highway from Vilrus to the outskirts of the Takharim tribe's largest town, the named Takhar itself. Koopo accompanied Koopiz in another car just behind the others, heading down to the edges of the town before Zuba and the rest. As they stopped on the road before the turnoff towards Takhar, they looked straight ahead at the road going southwards. Eventually, they were relieved to see two more vehicles appear in the distance. Bursk had brought the remainder of his men with him, most of them being the ones guarding the Powerhouse blockade. Everyone was armed, even the lesser-known hostiles, and at the junction the Unhalvalorians met at a truce with the Vilrusi.
"It's good to see that somebody kept his word." Ata stood almost on top of the open roof of his truck driven by Ratharmas.
Bursk opened his car's window to respond back to him. "My friends' lives are on the line here." Ata turned around to look back at Koopo driving his car, making a signal to beckon him to drive closer and by his left.
"There're armed fences up ahead. I want Koopiz up on the roof to deal with the left side, Mac and I will deal with the right side. We're going to drive together." Ata then turned his head to look back at Bursk. "Bursk, I want you to drive behind me and finish off anybody we might miss, same goes with your other truck for the left side. Understand?" Bursk nodded, and Ata finally turned his head to see Zuba and Tyro in the woods with the rest of their numbers. "Zuba, I want all of you lot to go along the trees up to the town's edge. Don't kill anybody that's unarmed. Innocent people here are not hostile, just like at home. They are not a part of this." Zuba nodded, and headed back in to the woods with the rest of her group. Ata turned his head back to Koopo once more. "Let's ready the trucks up."
At the front of the group were the two trucks belonging to the Vilrusi, occupying both sides of the road. Behind them were the Unhalvalorian trucks occupied by Bursk and his members. Ata readied up and gave a signal, getting all of the drivers to start the trucks and floor it down the eastern road to Takhar. As they got up to the barricades they noticed that they were completely unoccupied, and the gates to the town were left open. The four trucks plummeted through the town's edge and went on to one of the main roads of the town. Innocent Koopas hid away in houses and other buildings surrounding the road as the trucks circled around the town square. Coming from all sides were some armed Koopa hostiles, some of them had pistols and started firing them at the trucks.
"Hold the square!" Ata shouted across from the roof of the car, aiming his crossbow at some of the Takharim hostiles. Mac backed down from his seat in the car and peeked over his window, seeing the hostiles outside hide in the surrounding alleyways as well. "We need to find Basher!" He called out to Bursk in the truck behind his. Koopiz stood at the roof of his truck and fired bullets from his semi-automatic rifle, causing many to hide from him.
"Where's the leader scum?" Koopiz called out from the roof.
Ata turned around to the northern end of the road to see a small army of marching Koopas head on to the street led by Zuba and Tyro. They rushed forward, pointing their weapons at the innocent Koopas on the street, forcing them in to their homes.
"We run this town now!" Koopiz shouted again, getting back under the roof and opening one of his truck's doors, getting out with his rifle in hand. "Ata, come on! Let's get them!" He looked over to Bursk in the truck and pointed towards him. "You too, out now." Ata and Mac got out of the truck and met with Koopiz, Bursk arrived a few seconds later. Some of the other Unhalvalorians got out of the fourth truck and hurried up to meet them against some safer cover. It seemed for now that Ata's side had more guns and numbers than those currently in Takhar, but it was quite a large town compared to the small villages that the others come from. Mywithe was nowhere to be seen, only a few hostiles coming from alleyways to the southwest.
"Ratharmas, keep the trucks clear. Everyone else with a gun, come with me." Ata commanded the group that came with him in to the town before finally meeting up with Zuba.
"He's not here." Zuba ran up to him, carrying her own rifle.
"He's got to be somewhere. He's either trying to trap us or he knows he's outgunned." Ata signalled the others he was with and led them on to the nearest alleyway. Tyro still stood with the rest of his group and told them to scan the local area, making sure everyone else is in their homes and out of any danger.
As Ata and the others treaded swiftly down one of the dirty, tattered alleyways of Takhar, they heard the sound of gunfire come from one of the nearby windows. The glass of the window smashed and one of the Unhalvalorians was shot on the cheek, sending him down to the floor instantly. Ata reacted and Bursk shouted in anger.
"No!" He yelled, gathering his rage as he pointed to the broken window. "Raid the building! Bring me the killer!" The Unhalvalorians stormed the building, leaving Ata, Mac, Koopo, Koopiz and Bursk outside, guarding all ends of the alley between themselves. Gunfire was heard from inside the building, but after a few minutes, two of Bursk's members dragged the hostile Koopa killer out on to the alley. He was already shot in the arm and badly wounded, but still alive. Two of the Unhalvalorians threw the body against one of the piles of rubbish in the alley, allowing Bursk to stand in front of him. He got put his gun away and pulled out a knife, immediately stabbing the hostile Takharim Koopa in the neck.
"Easy there, Bursk." Ata pulled him away. "Let him die now." He noticed Mac looking away at the dying Koopa. Bursk and Ata watched as blood started spewing out of the Koopa's mouth as well as the neck where the knife had been.
"Nobody kills my family." Bursk growled. "I want to be the one to kill Mywithe." Ata felt a little bit worried for Bursk, as he noticed the anger in him seemed to have gotten to him already. The group headed onwards, leaving the two bodies in the alley alone. They were still in search for Mywithe, trying to find him within the remaining parts of the town. Zuba and Tyro had managed to get the entire surroundings of the town under watch, brawling and battling Takharim loyalists to Mywithe in the process. Some of them started to patrol back in to the inner roads and alleys, in search for Mywithe themselves. As Ata turned a corner he noticed one of his own standing at the end of a road, signalling him to come over as if it was safe. Ata and the others started rushing down the alley, avoiding all of the rubbish and the other mess that scattered the floors of the town. The Vilrusi Koopa fell to the floor as Ata almost reached him. He fell forward and revealed a bullet crack in the Koopa's shell as he bled on the floor next to him. As Ata looked back up again, he peered around the alley to see what looked like the entirety of Mywithe's loyalists. The crowd occupied the entire width of the road and went a few metres in length, most of them were only armed with pistols, but Ata could tell that Mywithe was in there somewhere, because he could already spot Joris in the crowd; one of Mywithe's most trusted and loyal friends. All that was in the way of them was one car that seemed to be out of use.
"Come to take over my people then?" The crowd of Takharim hostiles began to quieten down as Mywithe revealed himself from the crowd. "You think you have the right to storm in to my town and hurt my people because you think you'd treat them better? You've already made this place worse..." He held up a really large weapon with his right hand, looking bigger and better than any weapon Ata or his friends had. Definitely not one he had seen before.
"How did you get that?" Ata questioned the weapon.
"I have better connections." Mywithe grinned as he replied. "Better than your South Port ones, those are fake hostiles. Look at him right there, he's probably shat his shell already." He pointed towards Mac. "It's easy to recognise a southerner when they're putting on such a cowardly face."
"Hey!" Mac startled. "You don't know what I'm capable of." As Mywithe acknowledged Mac's threat, he heard several whispers into his ears about what he should do with the few Vilrusi and Unhalvalorians on their street.
"You can't do much when there are only ever so few of you." Mywithe laughed. "This gun of mine can mow you all down in a single spray." His crowd began to spread out on the street, surrounding Ata and the rest.
"But then you'd still be vulnerable from everyone else who has guns on you." A female voice echoed through an alley and on to the streets, shocking some of Mywithe's loyalists on the road. Zuba appeared out of one of the other alleyways out of the street, followed by several minor Vilrusi. Other alleyways began to reveal more and more of them, trapping Mywithe and the rest of his members in the quiet road.
"Ah." Mywithe stood out of the crowd, walking creepily with his gun still in the air. "Now the reasoning of this home invasion makes more sense. Imagine what it would be like if Illias was also here with his men and women, if he still had any."
"Illias and his followers answer to me now." Ata stood out of his crowd, also with his crossbow in the air with his right hand.
"Oh is that so?" Everyone watched Ata and Mywithe talk to eachother on the end of the road. "...and it also appears that you've got some other people who answer to you, particularly ones that said they had no respect for Illias. Isn't that right?" He lowered his rifle down to point towards Bursk. "You know, your friends and I had quite the talk today. They told me that they were going to make the town of Unhalvalor become a representative of the true Takharim tribe; the one led by me! So, does that make you a traitor to your own people?"
"Where are Basher and Durkar?" Bursk asked angrily, pointing his gun at Mywithe, but giving him no scare whatsoever.
"Only with us the whole time..." Mywithe made some of his followers move out of the crowd to reveal Basher and Durkar within, holding weapons given to them by Mywithe himself. Bursk gasped, not happy with the change to them that he could see.
"We would have killed you all by now..." Basher spoke up. "...but why did you have to be with them? We told you we were going to see him today, what managed to happen during this afternoon?"
"Bursk, don't listen to them. It's a trap." Ata whispered to him worryingly.
"Basher, you must convince him otherwise. We can end all of our conflict right here and right now." Bursk kept moving his eyes in between Mywithe and Basher, telling him to point towards him. "We don't need one person to make the choices. We'd be no different to Peach in the south if we kept things like that."
"Don't listen, Basher." Mywithe tried to silence Bursk. "We've got better ways of it; we don't need to all be suffering. We can all be living better lives if we just complied with me."
"I've had enough of this." Koopiz whispered to Koopo, readying up his rifle to point and shoot at Mywithe whilst he was distracted. As he was about to fire, some other Koopas in his crowd had noticed and were ready to intervene.
"Boss, get down!" Joris shouted, running in to the way of Mywithe as Koopiz open-fired towards Mywithe, spraying several bullets in to the crowd. Joris was struck in the shoulder, but saved Mywithe in the process. Mywithe slipped and started firing his rifle anyway, spraying some of the Unhalvalorians in Ata's crowd. The Koopas in the alleys started shooting and the Takharim hostiles fired back. Koopas were either shot, missed at, or evading the bullets in the air, leading to many of them hiding in the corners of the road. Bodies began to litter the floor, most of them being Takharim in the centre as they were surrounded.
"Come on then pussies, come!" Koopiz shouted as he hit several people with his rifle, hiding behind a bit of cover next to Koopo and Mac. The three could see Zuba at the edge of one of the alleys, hiding behind it and pointing her rifle towards the crowd. The sound of bullets ricocheting against the nearby buildings panicked Zuba, causing her to hide on the floor and stop firing back. Most of the Koopas on both sides started to panic, but Joris, despite being wounded from the shot to the shoulder, kept defending Mywithe, activating the keys to the car in the road.
"Boss, get in to the car! I can't drive like this." He yelled at Mywithe and Chorus, who was still shooting Vilrusi Koopas in the alleys and Unhalvalorians on the street. Chorus almost got a clear shot on Ata, but missed slightly after his gun was pushed up in to the air by a Vilrusi Koopa with knives. The Koopa tried to shank Chorus, but he parried the strike with his gun, opening fire on the Koopa's face in retaliation. The Koopa fell to the floor as Chorus ran around the car to get in to the passenger seat. Joris climbed in to the back, taking up the entire middle seats of the car.
"Come on, let me in!" Durkar tried to jump in to the car as well.
"Fuck off." Joris opened fire on Durkar with his rifle in his right hand, pushing him out of the way with several bullets to the chest, sending him on to the floor. Joris closed the doors to the car and lied back down on the seats, tending to his wounds and hoping Mywithe would be able to drive out of the road safely.
"NOOOOO!" Bursk watched Durkar's body fall to the ground, causing him to start spraying against the car. The side and front windows smashed, almost reaching Mywithe and Chorus in the front of the car as he was reversing around, knocking some of his own followers aside and running over other bodies.
"Mywithe's getting away!" Basher called out as he threw his weapon on the floor, jumping over the cover and diving himself in to the dirt-grass patches at the end of the road behind Koopiz and the others behind cover. Ata, still in the fight, tried to fire his crossbow bolts in to the car, but he was still under fire from some of the Takharim Koopas who managed to take control of some of the alleyways to use as cover, killing some Vilrusi and Unhalvalorian followers in the process. He shot a bolt that pierced the side of the car as it drove off on the road, landing into the back of Chorus' chair in the front seat, not quite enough to reach his shell or his back body.
"Drive, drive, drive! We're still under fire!" Joris shouted in pain as Mywithe began to drive up the road, out of the way of the last remaining shooters. Everyone who was still standing was either at the end of the road on the other side or hiding in an alleyway. It looked like the last remaining Takharim were fleeing away from the scene, being stopped by more of Zuba's hostile followers on the edges of the town. As Mywithe got to the end of the road, he took a hard right on to the next one, trying to still get away. Just before he finished the turn, one more bolt flew in to the front of the car, smashing the glass on the right side front door and going straight in to Chorus' neck. He fell forward on his seat and lied down against the front of the car.
"Kill... them... all..." He muttered under his breath to Mywithe as his eyes closed and his body rolled down to the leg room of the seat. Mywithe's eyes were as wide as they could get, panicked to see one of his best friends die in front of him. He had to keep moving though, and the car would eventually reach the southern road out of town, avoiding some more gunfire from a few Vilrusi hostiles in the process.
"We can't do anything now." He heard Joris complain from the back of the car. "We've just got to drive, and don't stop anywhere." They reached the woodlands outside the town and floored it once they got to flatter, straighter roads heading south...
...
Meanwhile back in Takhar, it was pitch black in the sky and Mywithe's last remaining loyalists had deserted the area.
"I, Ata Endymion, hereby free this town from the grip of Mywithe, and let it live in peace again." He roamed the road, counting the number of Vilrusi Koopas lost in this supposed final battle. His face was lifted with relief after meeting up with all of his friends after the fight. Koopo and Koopiz were fine, getting out of the cover, and Mac seemed in good shape still. Zuba was unharmed physically, but seemed to be left scarred from the fight, having her life flash before her eyes during it. He found out that Tyro was alive and well in the back lines of the city, and Ratharmas managed to keep the trucks safe with other Vilrusi Koopas defending it. Basher was wounded from some collateral shots during the fight, unknown of whose weapon it came from, but his wounds didn't seem fatal. The last person Ata was yet to see was Bursk, who he finally spotted in the middle of the road, looking down on the body of what must have been Durkar, filled with gunshot wounds and a broken shell most likely caused by the car's turning.
"It's over now." Ata tried to comfort Bursk. "You saved Basher's life by helping me save this town."
"At the cost of Durkar's..." Bursk wept a bit in front of the body, as disgusting as it looked right now he still stared down at it knowing it was his friend's.
"I can assure you this tribe will be at peace once again. Durkar's death was a bold and brave sacrifice for the people of Unhalvalor. They will be ever so thankful for what he did today."
"It's not enough." Bursk was still angry, only less open with his feelings now that the fight had ended. "Durkar's dead, Joris is not. I need justice to be served." Bursk pushed Ata away and stormed up the road alone, leaving the scene of the bloodbath...
EOC: A very hostile-intensive chapter. The next one will be the next race.
See you then!
