-Wild Aces-
"Would ya stop that!"
"…."
"I'm warning ya!"
"….."
"Did ya say something, Powder?"
"Argh!" Bakura yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "I give up, you are completely hopeless!"
"That's not very nice y'know," Marik pouted, earning an eye roll from the other outlaw. "Besides, don't ya think we should get back to town?"
Rolling his eyes, Bakura lifted one of his legs to wrap it over the horn of his saddle, sitting side saddle in a way as he looked back at his companion. "Nah, we're not needed in town, besides between you and me, I have a bad feelin'."
"You're just being paranoid," Marik smirked, waving a hand in dismissal.
"Look here, Dynamite! I'm not paranoid; I just have a bad feelin' that Yami could be in over his head!" Bakura snapped, glaring at the blond, while secretly enjoying the other's pout at his dubbed nickname.
"Hmph, when isn't Yami in over his head?" Marik asked with a huff while crossing his arms.
"That's not the point, numbskull!" Bakura growled. "Just trust me on this alright?"
"Alright, Powder."
"Don't call me that!"
"Then don't call me Dynamite!"
Closing his eyes, Bakura enjoyed the mental image of lunging at the blond and choking the life out of him. Sighing, he opened his eyes to look over the horizon where faint traces of black smoke could be seen heading their way.
"Is that the train?" Marik asked, noticing the smoke as well.
"Nah, its Indian smoke signals…" Bakura replied, rolling his eyes.
"Quit being such a smart ass!" Marik growled.
"I can't help it, it's in my nature," Bakura smirked.
"So you're admitting that you're an Ass?" Marik smirked, eyeing the white haired outlaw.
Bristling, Bakura turned away from the blond. "Bastard," he grumbled before turning his attention back to the approaching black smoke. "If that is the train… then that could mean that Yami… failed."
"He can't fail! Yugi would be devastated!"
Both outlaws nearly jumped out of their saddles as they turned to see their loves as well as Joey and Seto walking their horses up to them.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" Bakura glared, narrowing his eyes at Ryou as he rode up to him.
"We were wondering where you were, and I seen you heading out this way," Ryou answered before looking out at the train and ignoring Bakura's twitching eye. "Do you really think Yami failed?"
"The train's still comin' ain't it?" Marik stated.
"Maybe he doesn't know how to stop it," Malik suggested, shrugging his shoulders.
"It can't be that hard to figure out, darlin'," Marik smirked. "Yami may be a bit out there and all but he ain't blind and I know there is a certain lever in that engine that has 'BRAKE' written over it."
Twitching his eye, Malik growled at his outlaw love. "Wise ass!"
"Guess I'm not the only ass now, am I?" Bakura chortled, earning a glare from Marik.
Seto shook his head while pulling his horse to a stop beside Bakura with Joey right beside him. "I think Yami is gonna need us more than he thought he would."
"What makes ya say that?" Bakura asked, looking over at the brunet.
"Before we left town, I heard that the telegraph office received notice of a posse being set out in Pecos Town," Joey sighed, looking over at Bakura and Marik before looking back at the smoke in the distance. "It won't take that posse long to catch up to that train and they've been order to shoot at will."
"Yup, Yami's definitely screwed this time!" Marik whistled before nearly falling off his horse from the whap Malik gave him. "Damn! What in hell's fire was that for!"
"You're forgetting that Yugi is on that blasted train, you… you…"
"Bastard, nitwit, numbskull…"
"Moron!" Malik finished, ignoring the pout that Bakura was sporting at not having any of his insults being used.
"Would you two stop your useless BICKERING!" Ryou snapped, shocking everyone. "This is no time to fight; we have more important problems to deal with."
"He's right," Seto nodded, looking at the others. "We're going to have to cut them off or something."
"I could blow up the track," Marik chimed in before having everyone glare at him. "What?"
"We don't want the train to crash, idiot," Bakura sighed. "Let's just ride out there and see what's going on."
"And what if the posse shows up and decides to shoot at us?" Seto asked, glaring at Bakura.
"They shoot us, we shoot back," Bakura countered, patting his holstered shot gun.
"I could blow them up."
Eye twitching, Malik smacked his dynamite obsessed lover. "Ya not going to blow anything up, so hush!" he growled, watching as Marik crossed his arms and pouted at not having his way.
"Let's ride out and just think of a plan when we get there," Seto suggested before looking around to see if everyone agreed with him. Seeing the various nods, he kicked his horse's sides, causing the horse to start off in a steady gallop with the others riding beside him.
MEANWHILE…
"Bastard," Yami growled, slowly getting to his feet and keeping Yugi safely behind him.
"Y-Yami," Yugi whimpered, clutching Yami's duster sleeve tightly as he looked fearfully over at the silvery haired outlaw.
"Still sharp tongued as always, eh Yami?" Pegasus smirked, keeping a steady hand on his gun.
Bristling, Yami narrowed his eyes while reaching behind him to keep a comforting grip on Yugi. He could feel the little one shaking behind him as well as the tightening grip on his duster sleeve.
"It seems as though your little one is scared of me. How comforting," Pegasus chuckled, staring down at Yugi to watch him bury his face in Yami's duster. "He and I had such lovely talks about you, Yami."
"Make him stop…"
"I even told him about you killing my brother."
"Please… Yami make him stop," Yugi whimpered, burying his face further into the material of the duster, wanting to disappear.
"I also told him about the many others you've sent to an early grave."
"Enough!" Yami hissed, glaring at Pegasus while hearing the faint whimpers coming from Yugi.
"Don't you want the little one to know the truth… that you really are an evil heartless bastard?"
"You're the only heartless bastard I know, Pegasus, or is it Peggy?" Yami smirked, enjoying the twitch in the other's eye.
"I wouldn't press my luck if I were you, Yami," Pegasus glared, sliding the gun down to aim down where Yugi's face could be seen from the open space between Yami's arm and side. "Your little one may pay for your attitude."
"You'd be dead before you got the shot off," Yami growled, clenching his left fist tightly right beside his holstered gun.
Pegasus chuckled darkly at the pair before him.
Bristling at the laughter, Yami's attention was gained by the faint neighing of a horse. Casting a glance out the large side windows, his eyes widened at seeing a familiar black snout coming up beside the car.
Pegasus followed the gaze and snorted in amusement. "One of your friends, I suppose," he chuckled, pointing the gun at the window as the horse came more into view, only revealing its neck and chest. "Say good bye to one of your Aces," he chuckled before pulling the trigger.
Yami's mind fogged over at the sound of the gunshot before hearing a painful whinny come from his faithful stallion that was his closest companion. Coming out his daze and feeling rage boiling in his veins he lunged at the other outlaw, taking him completely off guard.
'Oh no… Phantom,' Yugi mused sadly since he had noticed the horse as well and felt heartbroken since he knew how much Yami loved the black stallion. Turning to look back at the scene he jumped as a stray bullet managed to scuff the floor only inches away from his foot.
Yami smacked Pegasus's armed hand onto the rough floorboards hoping to dislodge the weapon, but the other had managed to pull the trigger on him anyways. Casting a side glance over to Yugi, he sighed in relief at him not being hurt before feeling a sharp punch land across his already bullet grazed cheek.
"Yami!" Yugi yelled, noticing Yami's painful wince as he looked around the car to try to find something he could use to help his love out with, but nothing stood out to him.
Biting back the pain, Yami turned back just in time to avoid a swipe from a knife that Pegasus had managed to pull out of sleeve of his slicker. Ducking out the way, he brought one of his knees up against the other's chest while pulling on his shoulders, causing them to roll on the floor.
"Yugi, Run!" Yami called out, swinging another punch at Pegasus and succeeding witha strong hit that sent the other reeling back a bit as they had pulled out of the rolling fight and were now on their knees.
"But…"
"GO!"
Shaking his head, Yugi ran out of the car as fast as he could and ended up in another car filled with coal and a boiling furnace. He could already feel sweat running down his neck from the intense heat. Walking over the coal, he let out a yelp as the black rocks shifted out from under him, causing him to fall backwards into a large pile of the uncomfortable rock.
"Well, well, look what we have here."
Yugi tensed as he looked up to find a ragged man with soot covered clothes and dingy skin looking down at him.
"Trying to run away, are ya?" the man chuckled, inching closer to Yugi.
Yugi paled at the other while scrambling back over the coals, feeling a few of the jagged edges bite into his hands.
"Looks like I'll just have to take care of ya then," the man chuckled, eyeing Yugi with a not too nice intent.
Glaring at the man, Yugi pushed away his sudden fear as he remembered what all had happened to him so far. Grabbing some of the coals, he quickly started to throw them at the advancing man, hitting him everywhere he could with as much force as he could muster.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Dammit, Ow! Why ya little—Ow! Con found it! Ow!" the man yelled, twitching in every direction that a piece of coal would hit him. He was sure that he would be decorated in black and blue patches after this. Gritting his teeth, he lunged at Yugi, but found the little one a lot faster than he thought.
Yami winced as his back hit the wall of the car before bringing up a kneeing and hitting Pegasus in the gut. Both of them had managed to disarm each other of all their guns which were scattered out around the car, but neither one of them would let the other have enough time to grab a weapon so they had to resort to punches, kicks, and whatever else they could come up with.
Taking Pegasus's brief distraction, Yami leaped for one of his guns, but Pegasus managed to tackle him, resulting in him landing face first on the floor. Groaning and gritting his teeth, Yami swung back one of his elbows, managing to knock Pegasus in the head, causing the other to roll off him.
Pegasus growled as he lunged back at Yami, but was surprised as the red eyed outlaw rolled and kicked one of his legs out, causing the sharp gold star shaped spur to slice across his cheek. "Damn," he hissed, grabbing his cheek and wincing at the burning sensation before turning to find Yami looming over him with both hands sporting his deadly pistols.
"You crossed the line, Peggy boy," he growled, cocking the guns.
"AHHHHHHH! LET ME GO!"
Hearing the scream, Yami's attention snapped as he looked over at the door leading to the next car. "Yugi!"
Taking the distraction, Pegasus made another lunge, tackling Yami to floor again while the impact had caused the guns to go off and fire random bullets at the end wall. "You should no better than to drop your guard, Yami," he sneered.
Yugi squirmed around in the ragged outlaws arms, hearing the guy laughing at his futile attempts, his amethyst eyes narrowed. Doing the only thing he could think of, he bit down as hard as he could on the other's arm, causing the outlaw to yowl in pain as well as toss him into another pile of coal.
Spitting out the fowl taste, Yugi smiled as he spotted a shovel only inches away from his hand. Hearing the man coming toward him, he gripped the handle before swinging it around as hard as he could to have it smack the outlaw on the side of the head.
"T…t…take that," Yugi mumbled, his fear etching its way back into his mind as he looked down at the outlaw to find blood pooling around the slice that the shovel had made across the side of the man's head. Recalling the gun fire earlier he made to go back to the other car to check on Yami, but as he stepped onto the platform, he yelped as a bullet pinged against the iron floor he was standing on.
Not sure of what to make of it, Yugi was getting ready to take another step when he winced as a bullet managed to graze his arm, causing him to fall back into the coal filled car. Hissing at the stinging sensation, he cradled the wound while feeling his warm blood pooling against his fingers.
Yami winced as he crawled across the floor as gunfire shot out the glass windows, causing the shattered glass to spill out on the floor which in turn sliced through his hands. Sliding over to one of the wooden booth seats, he took off his bandanna and wrapped it around his left hand, since it was sporting a rather deep gash from a piece of glass.
Looking back down the car, he couldn't help but smirk at Pegasus, whom had been shot almost in the exact same place he had been. 'What comes around, goes around.' he mused, watching his opponent crawl across the floor while heading to the next car. Yami frowned in confusion, knowing that the next car didn't have anything but money in it… unless you counted those barrels over in the corner.
'Shit!' he hissed to himself, realizing that those barrels had probably been filled with gunpowder. Shaking his head, he crawled away from the booth before running down the length of the car hunched down low while gunfire rained over his head.
Lunging at Pegasus, he managed to tackle him away from the door. "Where do you think your going?" he asked, pinning the other to the wall before jumping out the way as a bullet managed to shatter through the car walls, causing a storm of splinters to land on him and Pegasus.
Yami hissed as more bullets managed to tear through the compartment, causing him to leave Pegasus and go for better cover. Bracing himself against a booth, he looked up to notice a polished silver tray sitting over in the corner. Picking it up, he slowly lifted it up to use it as a reflector to see exactly who was shooting at him.
At getting a glimpse, he growled before hissing at the jarring he felt as the silver platter was shot out of his hands. Shaking the sensation away, he glared down at Pegasus to find him still leaning against the wall, hand covering his wound. "You son of a bitch! You have a posse of at least 20 or more riders out there!" he growled, bristling as he heard the other laugh.
"What's the matter, Yami? Scared?" Pegasus taunted. "I would think being with those two idiot friends of yours that you would be used to random gunfire. However, I'm not sure about your little one."
Crimson eyes widened as they shot a look over at the door that Yugi had went out of. Getting ready to run to the door, he reeled back as another bullet tore through a few inches away from him. "Dammit!" he yelled, feeling helpless and only hoping that Yugi was alright.
"Looks like the shindig started without us!" Marik yelled, looking over at Bakura.
Bakura glared as he and the others looked down from their perch on a hillside, taking notice of the posse gunning down the train.
"Looks like Yami managed to do a bit of damage, all the other cars are missing," Seto mused, looking back at the others.
"Good thing too, I heard this train was packing a canon," Joey sighed, noticing everyone look back at him with a shocked expression at learning what kind of weapon would have been used by Pegasus.
"So what's the plan?" Malik asked.
"You and Ryou will stay here and the rest of us will take care of everything," Marik said before wincing as Malik smacked him.
"We're not going to sit around when our friend needs us!" Malik snapped, glaring at Marik.
"Just drop it Marik, we're going to need all the help we can get," Seto sighed, looking back down at the situation as the sound of shot guns shells echoed around them, causing them all to wince.
"Those walls may handle pistol bullets pretty well but at such close range those shot gun shells are going to tear on through after being shot so many times," Bakura sighed.
"Then I say we stop them in their tracks," Marik chuckled, twirling a stick of dynamite between his fingers.
"We've been through this before…"
"No, Seto, for once I have to agree with Dynamite, since he has a point," Bakura smirked, fishing out a stick of dynamite from his saddlebag. "We can't take them all at once, so maybe they'll scramble."
Rolling his eyes, Seto sighed. "I think you two are forgetting that they need to be lit," he stated, pointing at the fuse.
"Not this time, we're going to take a page from Yami's book," Bakura smirked, twirling the dynamite around in his fingers to mirror Marik.
"Toss and shoot," Marik chuckled, an insane gleam flashing in his lilac eyes.
Fishing into Marik's saddlebag, Malik pulled out a stick of dynamite for himself before smirking. "Sounds like fun," he smirked, looking up at Marik to find him smiling in pride.
"You really are my little hellcat," he chuckled.
Ryou blinked as Bakura handed him a pistol. "Bakura?"
"You take this and just shoot at the horse's hooves," Bakura sighed. "Since these guys seem to be mob of sheriffs and crap, it's not good for our health to kill them all."
"So you're not going to kill them?" Joey asked a bit shocked at how different these outlaws were compared to others.
"Not if we can help it," Seto sighed. "We just need to get them away from the train."
"That's why you want me to shoot at the horse's hooves, ain't it? Because the horses will either veer off or throw their riders." Ryou smiled at Bakura's nod.
"That's right, and as for the dynamite part, its going to be tricky because we have to make sure that we don't throw it directly into the mob but away from them," Marik smiled.
"Everyone set?" Bakura asked, receiving several nods in return. "Then let's go help our friends."
Kicking their horse, the group raced down the slope before breaking up into pairs and cutting around the large posse.
Getting ready to make another run for the door to go and see Yugi, Yami groaned as a cloud of dust and an explosion caused the train to jerk to the side, causing him to smack against another wall. "What in the hell?" he asked trying to get back to his feet but another explosion from the other side caused him to fall again.
"Marik, ya nitwit! Not so close to the train!"
Yami blinked at the familiar harsh yelling of Malik coming from his left.
"Don't yell at me, Powder did the same thing!"
'As usual' Yami smirked before cautiously lifting his head to look out the shattered windows to find the posse scattered about while dust from the explosion caused them to veer away. Getting ready to yell at his companions, he hissed and groaned as a larger explosion caused him to hit the floor again while rattling the train.
"You idiot!We told you not to blow up anything!"
"Shut up, Powder!"
Yami scrambled back up and looked out the window to find the last car in shambles and still harboring a few flames. Rushing as fast as he could, he completely ignored Pegasus while barging through the door and kicking the safety pin off the car junction.
Hearing stray bullets ping around him, he quickly started to unscrew the latch before stepping back to watch the treasury car pull away before jumping back inside as another slew of bullets came his way.
Bakura, Marik, Malik, and Ryou had noticed Yami and shot each other looks at why he had released the other cars. However in only a few more moments they were greeted with an answer as a large explosion echoed behind them, causing them to look back to find the two release cars blown to bits, shooting debris everywhere.
"I wonder if Peggy was in there." Marik smirked, looking at the others curiously.
"I doubt it," Bakura replied as the four rode up to catch up with Seto and Joey to help them fend off the posse that had still been shooting at the train.
Yami growled as he looked over at Pegasus to find him looking paler than usual and sporting another gunshot wound almost in the same place as his other side. "I think I should've tossed ya in that last car, and then we'd be rid of ya forever."
Wincing, Pegasus just glared at the other before watching him walk away toward the end of the car. "You won't be rid of me that easy, Yami-boy!"
Ignoring the other outlaw, Yami continued on his way, listening to the sound of his boots crunching against the glass shards before reaching down and picking up his guns. Glad his friends had come to help him and managed to stop the posse for a moment, he walked out onto the platform before feeling his heart stop.
Just across from him in the doorway to the other car sat Yugi leaning up against the door with his head dropped and blood staining his right arm. "Yugi!" Yami yelled, clearing the distance in an instant as he kneeled down to his little one to have half lidded amethyst eyes slowly look up at him.
"Y-Y-Yami," Yugi whispered, wincing lightly from the twinge of pain coming from his arm.
Crimson eyes gleamed in concern as Yami gently tore away the sleeve to look at the wound. It was only a graze, but it was deep and he knew that it was painful. Leaning over, he placed a soft kiss on Yugi's cheek, hoping to comfort his little one.
Yugi melted into the gesture, the kiss pacifying his raw nerves as he looked up at Yami before his eyes widened as he caught sight of Pegasus standing behind Yami with a knife raised, ready to stab him in the back.
"Yami, behind you!"
Blinking, Yami quickly pulled out a gun before pushing Yugi further into the car and turning to pull the trigger to shoot Pegasus dead on, causing the outlaw to drop the knife before crumpling down to fall between the platforms and hit the track below.
Yami sighed as he got up from his place on the floor to notice Yugi lying motionless on his side. Kneeling down next to his shorter lover, he sighed at finding that the little one was unconscious. Scooping Yugi gently into his arms, Yami kissed the other's forehead as it rested against his chest before making his way to the engine car.
With his gun still in his wrapped left hand, it didn't take much for him to convince the coward of an outlaw that had been in the engine room to stop the engine. Jerking a bit at the sudden stopping, Yami jumped off the train with Yugi still cradled in his arms.
In only a matter of moments, his friends had rode up to him. Ryou and Malik dismounting their mounts quickly as they ran over to Yugi.
"Oh, is he alright?" Malik asked before turning to notice Joey running up behind him.
"He's just unconscious and has a mild bullet graze," Ryou sighed in relief before looking over at Yami. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he sighed lightly. "Just a few scrapes and stuff, nothing life threatening."
"We can't stay here too long," Seto stated riding up to the others. "That posse may be scrambled for now, but it won't take them long to regroup."
Nodding, Yami nuzzled his face in Yugi's hair as he watched all Ryou, Joey, and Malik get back on their horses, causing him to think about had happened earlier.
Bakura was the first to pick up on the unusual behavior for Yami as he walked his horse over to his companion, "What's wrong?"
"Hey, where's that crazy horse of yours?"
Hearing the question, Yami closed his eyes and nuzzled his head deeper into Yugi's tri color locks to take a deep breath before looking back at his friends with watery crimson eyes. "Pegasus shot him," he choked. "Crazy horse caused a distraction and Pegasus thought that maybe one of you was riding him and so he shot at him."
The rest of the Aces winced at the news, knowing the bond between the two.
"At least you got Yugi back," Seto offered, hoping to put the other in a bit of ease.
"I know," Yami smiled, hugging Yugi closer to him before walking over to Ryou. "Hold him for me until we get to town," he sighed, as Ryou nodded and they both managed to get Yugi settled in front of Ryou.
"C'mon Yami," Bakura sighed, offering his hand down to his companion as he helped his old friend onto the back of his horse.
"Let's get back to town," Joey sighed, kicking his horse as it headed off into a gallop followed behind the rest of the group.
As Bandit galloped at the hill behind his companions, he was pulled to a stop by Bakura, causing him to snort in disapproval before twitching his ears at the familiar sounds of galloping hoof beats coming his way.
"It's probably the posse coming, Yami," Bakura mumbled, looking up at the group to see that they had stopped for him before turning to find Yami sliding off the back of his horse. "What are you doing?"
Yami ignored Bakura as he kept his eyes focused on the small slope leading up to the hill over looking the tracks. Hearing a familiar whinny, he almost thought that it was wishful thinking, but as a head of familiar black mane appeared over the slope, he smiled brightly.
"Phantom!" he called, his voice faltering somewhat from its normal confident tone to show he was beyond relief as the black stallion galloped toward him.
Clearing the distance in no time, Phantom whinnied as Yami ran up to him and wrapped his arms around the stallion's neck, paying no heed to the sweaty froth that decorated its inky chest.
Pulling away, Yami looked over the horse to find the chest collar strap ripped and blood spilling out of a small graze wound. Feeling the horse affectionately nip at his shoulder, he chuckled as he reached up to wipe away the tears marking his cheeks to only feel a smooth muzzle wipe them away.
"So the bullet only grazed him?" Bakura smiled, noticing the ripped breast collar.
"Yup, looks that way," Yami smiled, patting the horse again before climbing up into the saddle and riding past Bakura to retrieve Yugi from Ryou's arms. Cradling his little one against him once again, Yami smiled.
"So how do ya feel now?" Ryou asked, smiling over at Yami.
"Like an outlaw that just found the Ultimate find," he smiled, kissing Yugi's forehead before nudging Phantom and taking off to the nearest town with his friends trailing behind him.