Hello!

This is my first Rango fanfic, and my first fanfic in general. This specific one is an AU, or an alternate universe. In this case, this story is my version of the movie if Rango and Jake actually were real brothers.

I do NOT own the movie Rango (2011) or its characters. This was only written for entertainment purposes. In this story, I only own Mr. Dawn, Lasso, and Bruno, who are my OC's. Marion is another OC in this story, but he belongs to my friend, psychowolf933, with permission to include.

Overall, I hope you enjoy it!

We are gathered here today to immortalize in literature, the life and untimely death of two great legends. Two brothers who didn't always seem to get along, but the importance of family eventually came around to remind them that they both had a purpose together. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your low-calorie popcorn and assorted confections, and allow us to tell you the tale of two heroes who are yet to enter their own stories.

Chapter 1: Crash

Money. That's all this man in his late 60's had cared about. For decades, animals had been something he always was very passionate about. But not in a good way.

He was an illegal animal trafficker with a heavily unattractive appearance, not at all aging like fine wine. Selling and trading endangered and rare animals was his job. They called him Mr. Dawn, despite not exactly being his real name. He preferred to keep his identity anonymous in the wrongful doing he was a part of.

In fact, his own was the most successful in the country, even attracting attention from outside of his comfort zone with other countries too. Having never been busted by the law yet was one of his biggest achievements, and he hoped to keep it that way. The folks that he had employed were forced to keep their mouths shut and stay loyal to their boss, which they obeyed. They were also told to disguise their vehicles when transporting and how to successfully do trades without being caught.

It was one day that he had walked into the large warehouse, hidden securely in the middle of nowhere. Where hundreds of unique animals he kept, to sell and trade off once he found the right buyers. He was greeted by one of his younger workers. The younger man walked over to his boss, holding a large wad of American dollars with a wide smile on his face. "Here's the money from our last shipment, sir. It's true! Pangolins are in high demand right now," he said, handing the money over.

Mr. Dawn gave a laugh, snatching the cash. He was swishing a cigar in his mouth. His laugh had now turned into a whistle as he swiped through the dollars in his hands, treating them as if they were playing cards. He was seeing nothing but 20's on each piece of rectangular green paper. "Fifty-two Jackson's! Better catch some more exotics then, eh? Seems like this is doing us some good! We're going to be rich by the end of the year," he snorted. "Next, we'll do crossbreds again. I noticed that they make more too."

"Yeah, speaking of that. You don't reckon breeding all of those mismatched species will continue to harm offspring's genetics?" The young man asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, who really cares? They're making me money, kid. They're just animals," Mr. Dawn replied, itching his nose. "In fact, I have a job for you. I have a pair of reptiles, a female rattlesnake and a male chameleon. They've been tank mates for a while now but separated too often. Put them back together for me, will you? Now, I'd like to know how much the offspring of that pair would be worth!"

The young man gulped. "Oh. We've only got one female rattlesnake left, so I'm assuming you mean Buttercup?" He shook his head, thinking the old man was crazy. "Wouldn't she think of the lizard as food instead?"

"No, because Buttercup's a sweetheart. She only eats mice. Why do you think I gave her that sweet name to describe how much of a lovely creature she is?"

"I only assumed you named her that because of her yellow eyes, but if you say so, sir." The young man replied with a sigh, walking away towards the back of the warehouse where they kept the animals.

As he continued to walk away from Mr. Dawn, who began to light up a fresh new cigar as his old one had now burnt out, frustration rushed through his mind. Working for a money-hungry animal trafficker who also tended to crossbreed animals that didn't belong? It was quite tiring and very risky, but this job is exactly what kept food on the table for him and his family back at home.

Years had now passed.

It was a very humid and dry Tuesday afternoon in the Mojave Desert that surrounded the gambling city of Las Vegas, Nevada. The sky was crisp blue and sprinkled with very few clouds in each corner as the sun beamed down on the desert's golden sand. The highway that split the valley was quiet and not full of traffic, as was expected by one man in a large van. High on some sort of drug prior to the trip he was taking, he blinked heavily. His eyes were red as he looked down at his wristwatch. "Shit. I'm going to be late," he mumbled to himself.

The man worked for Mr. Dawn, as his direct duty was to transfer creatures all around across the country; but in this case, he was headed to a small city in California. His clients were a couple who collected animals with unique genetics, where they had decided to meet somewhere in secret for the trade. For this shipment, they were expecting to be delivered a pair of reptiles, specifically a male rattlesnake and a male chameleon — who were bred from the same pair that Mr. Dawn had requested years before. As the offspring had now grown, Mr. Dawn was ready to get rid of them for what he wanted in return.

Having been with their mother long enough to learn their names that she had given them before being separated, the male rattlesnake was named Jake, who had a tough attitude and was short-tempered. The male chameleon, named Rango, was more naive but respectful.

The two were in separate tanks, despite being the only animals to be transported in this shipment.

Rango, in his tank, was messing with several objects that the driver's young daughter had given him, thinking the "lizard would be bored". A barbie doll in Hawaiian clothing, a plastic palm tree, a plastic wind-up goldfish, and a small toy guitar. For the many miles that they had been traveling already, he had been talking to himself while playing with the objects as if they were real people, almost like a play. As Rango began to talk for a dead cricket that floated in his water bowl, treating it as an ill patient, Jake felt it as an annoyance as the chameleon changed his tone of voice.

The nearby rattlesnake was coiled up in a separate tank. He hissed at the lizard from his pathetic voice acting for the bug. "Didn't mother ever tell you not to play with your food?"

"And didn't mother ever tell you not to interrupt a perfect ongoing performance? I'm a thespian for a reason, you know," Rango groaned.

Jake rattled his tail softly, shaking his head. He completely ignored his brother's question and thought about the situation they were in at the very moment. "If we get taken to a family and their grubby child dares to lay a finger on me, I'll make them wish they never did."

"Bet they'll not even want to touch you," Rango muttered, looking at Jake's rough appearance and eyes that looked like fire had been lit in them.

Jake leaned back against the glass, curling up with his head low. He didn't know what was going to happen to himself and his brother. It was always a scientific mystery on how a rattlesnake and a chameleon could even be blood-related, but that reason made the rattlesnake know this was why they were being held by humans, due to their rare genetics.

For years, they had only been used to the sight of transparent glass that separated them from the outside world. Jake suddenly felt himself wanting to snap from the realization of isolation that they had been through for what seemed like forever now.

Rango tilted his head as he noticed Jake's attitude change quickly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Hmph. No."

The quiet response of the rattlesnake made Rango give a reassuring sigh. "I have hope. We're not going to end up someplace rotten like the other guys did. Remember the hornbills? I bet we're going to be just fine. Believe me."

Jake lit up as he turned to Rango across the way. "The hornbills? They're the ones that escaped."

"Exactly," Rango said with a nod.

The rattlesnake thought for a moment, realizing that their old friends' escape was all too easy, and it would be possible for him to do the same. He always wanted to escape from humans, one way or another, and that time would be now.

Jake quickly glanced up and looked around the top corners of his tank. The first three corners were no luck until he saw the last one, spotting just what he was looking for, chuckling. "I knew this human was a dumb one when I first saw his face. He gave me a ticket out of here long ago!" He lifted his head to the corner that was now locked in his sight and repeatedly began to bump his head into it, causing Rango to flinch at the loud sound it was causing.

"Will you keep it down? He'll hear you!" Rango panicked.

"No. It's almost open...!" Jake's head slams got more rapid as he grunted with desperation. Despite the slight headache it was causing, Jake would do anything just about now to get out of there. "I ain't no one's pet!"

Finally, with one last shove, the top popped off and clattered to the ground. "Aha!" Jake poked his head out from the top and slithered up from the side.

"Good, now help me out."

Jake glanced at Rango and back towards the window that the driver was seen through on the other side of the back they were held in. "Yeah, actually, I have a better idea."

"And that is?"

Jake smirked as he slithered over to the window, turning back at Rango. "To make sure this human never wants to touch another rattlesnake again." He gave a slight rattle of his tail, budging the window open. Once Jake got through, he quietly slithered over to the side of the human, who was all too focused on the road, not even noticing the animal.

Jake watched, wide-eyed, as the man had suddenly reached his arm out to seemingly change the radio station, immediately taking it as the right time to strike. Suddenly, he rapidly lunged forward with a loud hiss and sank his fangs into the man's wrist.

"AHHHH! You stupid snake, get off of me! How did you even get out?!"

Jake's tail rattled as he pressed his fangs deeper into the wrist, not wanting to let go until this human very well learned his lesson. The venom only seemed to be flowing quicker with every movement the man made. The suffering in the human's eyes gave Jake a satisfied feeling.

As the man continued to shout in pain, he tried to shake Jake off, but he still wouldn't budge.

Completely with both hands off the wheel now, he attempted to pull Jake off, but it was unsuccessful, and the pain only got worse. The van started to jerk sideways, tires screeching loudly. Once the vehicle shook like an earthquake, the man screamed as he looked ahead and saw which direction it was headed in now. Jake quickly released his fangs with a gasp, watching ahead too.

The last thing they remembered hearing was a loud crash and the feeling of blacking out completely.

Jake slowly lifted his head after realizing he was met with the hard concrete of the road. He felt dizzy and sore, his head throbbing. He slowly and forcefully opened his mouth after noticing it wouldn't completely open all the way, as if glue had kept it shut.

Once he lifted his top lip, he felt the left side of his mouth become wet and cold.

Then, he suddenly smelled blood. Was someone hurt? Was something dead? The rattlesnake's eyes widened as his eyes bolted down at the view right in front of him and saw what appeared to be his fang, covered in gleaming red fluid. He shook his head and licked where his fang was now missing but feeling relief that he at least still had the other one left. Luckily, rattlesnakes were known to grow their fangs back, but that didn't help Jake's case at the very moment.

The sudden remembrance of him falling fast and seeing a black platform with wide yellow vertical stripes that only got closer to him, until he felt his face smack hard and rough onto the pavement, causing him to be knocked out. Not knowing what happened next, until he was awake. He gently lifted himself up from the ground, looking around at his surroundings. The van they were in now crashed hard into a telephone pole that had caused it to also tilt slightly sideways and had a bent hood with a small flame exiting from the front.

The familiar voice of his brother called out. "Jake, you could've killed us!"

Jake glared sideways, spotting Rango several feet away from him. He grunted in pain, trying to get himself back up completely. "The human. I only wanted to harm him, not us. This wasn't… my plan!"

Rango got up on his knees and tried to balance himself to walk over to the rattlesnake. "Well, you did great on that," he muttered as he looked back at the driver who was now slouched over in the front driver's seat, unconscious. He then limped over to Jake. "I think you just cost me a leg."

"I was expecting the idiot to simply pull over to the side, so we could get out of a paused vehicle," Jake hissed as he looked down at Rango, his eyes arched in anger. "I couldn't stand the thought of being behind glass another day for human's entertainment. I wanted to get out, and I said I would!"

"Being bit doesn't sound like something someone would calmly pull over too. But now look where we are," Rango sighed.

The two looked around, realizing in reality that they were now stranded on an empty highway, in the middle of nowhere within a desert. Jake felt his brain throb from the earlier smack onto the pavement road. He then looked up at the glazing sun, shining straight into his eyes. "Damn sun! Out of all the places we could've been stranded in, why's it got to be a desert? They're hells on Earth! We'll be dead in no time if we don't find shelter and food… or water," he hissed with a sigh of defeat.

Rango shrugged and looked at Jake with a reassuring smile. "Well, if we're going to be stuck out here, we might as well find help with all of that, hmm?"

Jake blinked as he saw how positive Rango looked, despite having small bruises and cuts here and there on his body from the crash. He started to feel bad for what he had caused, knowing all of this was his fault, but it just didn't go as he really expected. If it did, they wouldn't be injured now. He sighed heavily in response with a soft nod, looking at the flat desert in the distance as the sun beamed down on them. "Guess we have no other choice," he mumbled.

Rango simply nodded, looking in the same direction as Jake. The rattlesnake glanced back towards his brother with a soft laugh. "First, put something on. You look ridiculous and might scare the locals," he said as he started to slither away in the direction they were staring.

Rango's eyes widened with embarrassment as he looked down at himself and turned back, something colorful catching the corner of his eye. The bright red Hawaiian shirt on the doll from his tank. "Yeah. I got it covered. Literally."

As he walked back to the doll to take the shirt and slide it onto himself, he spotted the shine of another object on the floor from back where Jake landed. He walked over to it with an eye raised, out of curiosity. One he realized what it was, he shouted. "Hey, Jake? You don't want to take what's rightfully yours?"

Jake stopped and took a look back at where Rango was shouting from. "It's worthless now. Why would I want it? Besides, it'll grow back. Eventually."

With an eye roll, Jake continued to move on like he was doing before being interrupted.

Rango shook his head and picked up the disabled fang, shaking it off. He shoved it into his shirt pocket. "He'll want it back eventually and get mad for not having taken it," he said to himself quietly. He knew how angry Jake got during a rant and was in no mood to deal with another one.

Any sort of appreciation, such as reviews, follows, and favs, is highly appreciated! I definitely use those as motivation to keep my story going and to get better.