Chapter17
-Stran-
As Stran walks across the vast desert both suns beating down on him hard he tops a sand dune overlooking a small town only ten or twelve buildings and a few people walking the short dirt road. A strong wind blew threw the town whirling up the dust on the streets and buildings a few clouds cast a shadow across the last couple of the buildings at the end of the road. "This looks like a good place to take a rest for a while" Stran heads down the dune towards the town humming an unfamiliar song to him self.
As Stran comes closer to the town a few people stop and cup a hand over the top of there brow. "Its him ITS HIM". The one man screams to the other. "He's back he's come to finish the rest of us." Stran stops in his place and looks behind him self. "What… the… hell" Stran says as he looks the giant atrocity up and down. Before him stood a 26 foot tall man with a shaved bulbuls head black goggles and giant metal bracers around his unusually long forearms that were far from proportional to the rest of his body. " And just what is it that you want there big fella". The giant man stood there silently as tear fell from behind his goggles. "What's a matter cat got your tongue". The man stood there silently then took a few steps and walked right past Stran and headed straight for the town. By this time the small town was in a frenzy people where running for cover any where they felt safe after several seconds of screaming and chaos the town went dead silent. With only earth shattering foot steps vibrating threw the air breaking the erie silence. "Hay there fella you don't plane on hurting all those innocent people do ya". The beast walked forward paying no attention to Stran. " HAY IM TALKING TO YOU". Stran finally screamed loosing his unusually long temper. The giant man still paying no mind to the man he more then dwarfed. " Guess I have to do this the hard way". Stran said to him self as he begain a slow jog into a lightning fast sprint. "I tried to do this the easy way". Stran yelled as he jumped side to side then jumping from his right thigh to his left shoulder landing on one foot and spin kicking the giant in the back of the head "WWWOOOPPAAAAAA LALALAAAAAA Take that who big headed Mongoloid". The man finally stopped for a brief second before turning his toward Stran then flicking him off his shoulder and sending him flying towards a building. "Wait this all seems kinda familiar". Stran reach his arm out and leather bands begin fly open and to metal plates pop up and slide to each side sending an almost W shaped bladed hook attached to a thin cable flying out of his arm towards the goliath puncturing his lower abdomen underneath his elbow then pulling Stran towards him faster then a bullet leaving the end of a smoke gun barrel. "wwwwwoooooooooo". Stran yells as the cable drags him in blowing his hair back and making his long black coat quiver in the wind. "This is going to be so cool".
-Rhez-
Rhez spun the cylinder on his new gun, snapping it shut and twirling the gun in his hand. First backwards, then forwards; he sighed and holstered it, looking up at the sky as he walked. "What's wrong?" Elle asked from atop the mount walking beside of him. (I have no idea what those things where called.) She had refused to walk and they had gotten the mount off of a pair of travelers a while back, they wouldn't be needing it anymore. "How much longer is it to December?" He asked absently. "Not much further, and settle down there's no hurry." Elle said looking down at him. "So what is this Livio guy like anyway?" Rhez replied after a second. She shook her head and sneered. "Annoying, very annoying." Rhez looked back at Freak who was walking silently behind them. "Any opinion on this guy?" Rhez said with a smile. Freak just kept walking, silently staring forward. "Good, good, thanks for the input."
A little while later they finally reached the top of a long incline, the desert spread out before them for miles as they topped it and found themselves on a cliff. They looked down upon the city below them, the drab buildings sitting in row after row, but almost at a random interval. "December." Rhez said to himself, then looking to Elle to make sure it was indeed their destination. "Yeah, that's December…" She said without looking at him. "Right!" Rhez said as he leapt out over the cliff. "Shit Rhez what are you doing?!" Elle screamed after him. He landed on the steep incline, dust and dirt flying from his feet as he slid down the cliff like a skier. "Come on Freak!" He screamed, and a second later Freak leapt over the side and came sliding down after him. "No don't you….. dammit…" Elle said, futilely yelling at him. "What got into him… Shit…" She thought to herself. "If he find Livio first… this is bad…" She kicked the mount into motion, taking the long way around the cliff at full gallop.
Rhez slid around a rock, narrowly dodging it and laughing as Freak slid up beside him. "You know this is fun!" He yelled to Freak as they slid apart to miss another rock. They where closing in on the town quickly, Rhez kicked off and flew through the air, flipping forwards and into a sliding landing on a rooftop. Freak planted a perfect landing beside him, his coat fluttering around him. "Show off." Rhez said with a smile, but Freak said nothing. Rhez looked out over the town, then back up at the huge cliff they had just slid down. "Man what was I thinking?" He said out loud, technically talking to Freak but thinking of it more as talking to himself. "So, what does this Livio guy look like?" He asked Freak. After a second of nothing he nodded. "Alright alright, you don't have to be so specific." He thought about it for a second, then nodded and walked to the edge of the roof. "Alright, we split up, meet me back here in an hour. Can we figure out someway for you to tell me if you find anything?" Rhez said to strange and silent man. Freak nodded, but didn't say how and leapt from the building. "Well alright then… I'm sure Elle will be just fine too."
Elle rode into town in hurry, thoughts racing through her head. "I have to find that little idiot… I can't afford to screw up again… and if Livio start getting in his head…" She shook her head and moved out. "Now where are you, you little bastard…"
Rhez walked down the dusty streets of December, looking from building to building. "Time to get serious…" He said to himself. "Now where would I be if I where someone I know nothing about…." He stopped and looked at a large board posted on the side of a building. Numerous drawn portraits adorned it, each with a name and a price. "Vash the Stampede… Sixty billion double dollars…" Rhez said to himself, the name striking a chord somewhere in the back of his head. "Vash… I… I remember Vash…" He said aloud. He remembered everything. His birth, trying to find Knives but finding Vash instead. Staying with the man for a short time before searching for Knives again. Almost getting killed by that crazy strong guy. And finding Knives, but for some reason changing his mind about him… "Is this me? Who the hell am I really?" Rhez said looking down at his hands. He looked back up at the board and found another surprise, himself. He looked at the drawn picture of himself, slightly older. Holding a smoking gun in each hand and with an evil grin on his face. "That hardly looks like me… Do I really look that girly?" He said running a hand through his hair. "Rhez the Eraser… Ten million double dollars…" He looked at the poster and couldn't seem to believe it. "The Eraser?" He said to himself, than read the small print under the price. "Wanted for numerous murders and helping in the destruction of Autumn town." (random name I made up for the town we destroyed.) He looked at the other posters, and found that he knew a lot of the names. "Granz the Wayward, Unknown the Freak, Elle the Heat." There where some that he didn't know as well. "Brilliant Dynamites Neon… Stran the Intrepid"
He stopped on the last name. He looked up at the picture and gritted his teeth, the drawing was pretty off, but it was close enough. "Stran… Your name is Stran…" After a second he brought his attention back to the only one that mattered at the moment. "Livio the Double Fang…" There was no picture. Rhez smiled and shook his head. "Of course there isn't…" He walked away, thinking over the things he had just seen, and trying to figure out how he would find this man.