Author's Note: Welcome back to another chapter! I'm sorry for the long lull in between chapters. I will try to start updating more frequently but there will be shorter chapters.


Whatever this was, it was not riding.

Rango huffed as he dragged his belly through the sand. The roadrunners had been too afraid to go anywhere near him, so Beans was the only one with a mount. Not to mention, the newly-turned rattlesnake wasn't sure how he'd planned to ride a roadrunner anyway. He was much too big, and he didn't have any feet to put in the stirrups, or hands to hold the reins.

So he settled for following after Beans instead.

"Easy, girl," said Beans, sparing a glance over her shoulder. She ran a hand through the roadrunner's ruffled feathers. The green rattlesnake slithered behind her, his sides heaving and his purple tongue hanging out in exhaustion. He slithered gracelessly through the sand. "Hey, Rango!" She called. "We need to hold up?"

The rattlesnake looked up at her with striking golden eyes, stopping his exaggerated side-to-side movement just long enough to pause and shake his head. "Nah, I'm good." He panted, trying and failing to hide the fact he was out of breath." I think I almost got the hang of it. One more wiggle- oh, there we go!"

Rango had flopped, crawled, and wiggled his way out of the ranch house at the expense of Bean's furniture. At first, he'd flailed like a fried caterpillar, hitting the ceiling and knocking over one of her chairs. Then he'd adjusted to pulling himself forward in a snake's version of an army crawl. Springing from an S-shape, he launched himself from one segment of his coils to another, front then back, just like an overgrown inchworm. It was a far cry from a rattlesnake's typically effortless glide, but at least it was something.

Bounce, pull. Bounce pull. Just a few more feet to go. Beans was waiting for him to catch up. Bounce, pull. Bounce, pull. Rango bit back a groan as his chin once again hit the ground. This was taking an enormous toll on his energy level.

"Better?" Beans asked as Rango shimmied up next to her. The roadrunner clucked nervously, and Beans tightened her hands around the reins so the flighty thing wouldn't skitter away as Rango came closer. Not that she blamed it.

Everything about Rango now screamed predator. He looked like a natural-born snake, with sharp fangs and a pointy rattle at the end of his tail to match. Beans counted six separate rattles. His eyes were the same yellow-gold she'd come to love, but now they were lit with an inner fire, ferocious and slitted like cat's eyes.

(Actually, it was probably a good thing that Spots was skittish. Roadrunners didn't like rattlesnakes much, Beans reflected,)

He lifted his neck up off the ground, his expression foreign-looking as his tongue flicked out to taste the air. "How much further?"

Beans looked away, a sinking feeling settling in her gut at the sight of the snake-like behavior. Last time I saw a snake do that it was Rattlesnake Jake. "Not much further. Another ten minutes and we should reach the town." An anxious pause. Then, "Rango, what're you gonna do? We're gonna find Lorraine, but folks aren't gonna like havin' a rattlesnake just waltz into town."

Rango looked at her, and she could see that he still had the faint, striped bands of green around his eyes, where his chameleon markings used to be. Now that she was over the initial shock, she was starting to see where bits of his old Rango-ness shone through. For starters, he still had a pale green underside, jaw, and belly. He was also pretty scrawny for a rattlesnake. His narrow, tapered neck held up a much larger looking head. His neck also still had that odd little bend in the middle. Yep, still her funny lookin' Rango.

The familiarity filled her with a pang of longing so bad it hurt.

Rango shook his head. "I dunno, Beans, but I gotta try something. I've come too far to give up now. And besides, these good people trust me. As long as I have that there badge, I'm still their sheriff."

I hope you're right, Beans thought, looking down at the glinting sheriff's badge hanging from her belt. The town of Dirt needs you. I need you, Sheriff.


It was Wounded Bird who first spotted the snake slithering towards town.

"Beans comes with green rattlesnake," he solemnly informed the citizens. "Is not Jake."

"A rattlesnake?" A dusty brown rabbit pulled her children closer to her, her voice quavering in alarm. "What's he gonna do with us? I don't like Beans bringing that creature here." She stroked her youngest's head, his long gray ears flopping down then popping right back up under her touch while her oldest son wiggled away.

Priscilla pushed her way through the crowd. "Where's Rango? Doesn't he know there's a snake comin'?"

"Yeah, where is the Sheriff?" Another voice, this one lost in the crowd demanded, "Rango always said he would protect us."

"Yeah!"

Wounded Bird held up his wings to quiet the angry murmurs of dissent. "I do not know," he replied. "But what I do know is that we must be ready for when snake come."